The Serial Experiment
by The Bluefire Phoenix
Summary: I met her that night underneath the ruined wall. How little I knew at the time. Was she really meant to change the world? Could I let her change the world?
1. Layer I

The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A _Project: Life Spark _Story...

_The Serial Experiment_

Layer I: Future Shock

Fifteen years ago, children all over the planet began to show signs of what we now call Esper Abilities. They could perform amazing feats, bending the laws of physics to their will. The scientific community wasted no time and began studying the Espers.

During the two years after the initial discovery, reports flooded in all over the world of kidnapped children and horrific experiments conducted at poorly regulated compounds. Espers were targeted for their unique abilities by a variety of organizations from legitimate governments to lowly human traffickers.

The few governments not targeting the Espers were slow to respond and inconsistent in establishing rules. Espers became the victims of vile persecution and unfounded propaganda. Most ended up as pariahs.

With a humanitarian crisis looming with the threat of dangerous individuals running unsupervised, the United Nations quickly created a new safe zone for Espers on a newly built research facility off the coast of Galveston, Texas. Children from all over the world were saved from dangerous abusers and persecution all over the world.

Within a year, researchers from every field were clamoring for residency and access to the Espers. Thus Academy City was established. The small artificial island was expanded to the size of Manhattan. The researchers became the first faculty members of dozens of newly established schools to help Espers hone and control their powers while gaining an education to become productive members of the world.

This mix of top scientific minds, large international funding, and a creative atmosphere has created a city at least thirty years more advanced than every other city on the planet. Even so ninety percent of the city's population is made up of students. Almost three-fourths of those students have displayed potential to be or been confirmed as an Esper. This ratio has remained more or less constant since the founding.

Hmm, it's crap. Total crap. I closed the word document and placed my head on my desk. Every year it was the same damn paper. Write the history of Academy City. It's important that you understand it.

Yeah, we get it. You've ingrained it into my head since I got here! I was going into high school next year for crying out loud. I knew the history backwards! What more was there to say?

My email beeped, bringing back to Earth. Weird for ten o'clock at night. Not so weird was the fact it was from Avri. I sighed and opened it up.

"Dear Ms. Mikoto Misaka (ACID# 299792-4-58)," I read aloud in the smarmy, condescending, faux-sweet tone Avri always used. "You've been noted for being two hours over your average log time. May we direct you towards some assistance?"

I shook my head and replied no. It would a safe bet to say Academy City was almost like another world to an outsider. Here everyone was connected in a way the Internet could only dream of. Academy City was built around the Wired. I didn't know the exact differences but as I understand, the Wired was a much more complicated, much more powerful system.

My eyes started to feel heavy. Outside my apartment window the city bustled.

When I arrived in Academy City about seven years ago, the city part of the name was a joke. Half the districts were still under construction. None of the streets were finished. Most of the students lived in a barracks.

Now the place was alive. Large wind turbines intermixed with large office buildings. The streets were now the cleanest and most well maintained on the planted. Massive apartment complexes now dominated the skyline, housing nearly three million students that attended over forty-two thousand schools.

In a short amount of time, this place went from being the dump I was left at to the world leader innovator and my home. Hell, I had lived in this apartment for nearly three years now. It was covered in a thick layer of lived in. All the nicks in the walls, oddly angled furniture, dated boy band posters, and tons random of pictures were the works of a home.

I got up and walked outside on the balcony. The streets were still pretty busy. It was Friday, so curfew was lifted. The night was still young and the electric sound of the street below rose up to me. My phone started to ring. Kuroko Shirai was calling me. She was my friend and roommate. We were both from Japan and had been sent to Academy City at an early age, Kuroko arriving a year after me.

"What's up Kuroko?" I greeted in Japanese. Crap!

"What's up Kuroko?" I asked again in English. I heard the roar of a crowd come through the speaker.

"Hey, Sissy! Where are you?" she yelled.

"In the room, why?" I answered.

"I thought you said you were meeting us at Cyberia!" Kuroko shouted. Oh, so that was the noise. "Come on Sissy, you promised!"

Damn it, she was right. How'd I forget? I was supposed to meet her and her friend from Judgment tonight.

"Right, I'll…I'll be there in a bit. Hang on," I said. I quickly hung up the phone and ran to my closet. Fashion was never my strong suit, not helped by the more utilitarian clothing that they offered in most of the city's shops. Sure there was a mall, but it had few stores open.

My wardrobe consisted of three sets my school's uniform and a few basic outfits for weekends. I threw one on, just a red skirt and a black and white striped t-shirt. Then I put on a jacket featuring my school's logo. It took a minute to get down stairs from the seventeenth floor.

The apartment was a multi-school hub. On any given day there were a dozen different uniforms to be seen in the lobby and rec rooms. I wanted to stay at my school's dorm, but I would have gotten off the waiting list this year and there was no guarantee of acceptance. Though I bet they'd have let me in.

I was content to stay with Shirai. She'd deny it, but I think she pulled some strings to room with me.

Out on the streets the city was pumping. Busses headed for other parts of the city or arriving here lined the streets. Groups of students walked about chatting amongst themselves. I headed south, towards Cyberia.

It was a club that had sprung up recently, and despite being popular it still had a small following. Kuroko had found it a few weeks ago and she had been going there almost every week since. I heard it was quite the place, playing the best underground music and serving the best food in the city.

I noticed a girl standing in an alleyway when I was about halfway to the club. She was mostly illuminated by the bright lights of the city, but she was also partially encased by pitch black dark alley right behind her.

Her light brown eyes stared vacantly into the street. She had short hair save for a long forelock that framed the left side of her face and was held together by an x-shaped clip. The girl wore a black school uniform I didn't recognize. She seemed to be in a daze.

"Are you alright?" I asked the girl. I brushed my hair back. The girl blinked. She started to breath heavily. She broke off, running back into the alley. I ran after her.

I found her after a few minutes, collapsed on her knees and trapped by a gang of older students. They were jeering and taunting her. Rage started to fester in the pit of my stomach. Sparks started to fill the air around me.

"Come on little girl; why don't you come with us," one of the girl's tormentors said. He had a British accent.

"Yeah we'll show you a good time," another added. That one had a Spanish accent, probably from Columbia if I was hearing him right.

I marched forward, calming the electric storm that was brewing around me. "Hey!" I shouted. The boys turned to me. Some released a sharp catcall whistle. Their smirking faces grew larger. "Leave her alone."

"Aren't you a pretty thing? Tell you what: why don't you come with us and we'll leave this one alone," the leader offered. One of his goons put a hand in front of the leader.

"She's wearing a Glashow Middle School jacket, man. They don't take anyone less than a Level Three. Maybe we shouldn't mess with her," he whispered.

"What does that prove? It's just a jacket."

The air around me began to pop with static. My display seemed to intimidate some of the punks. But the leader took a step towards me. "So what'll it be, love?" he delivered his ultimatum. He held out his hand as if he were some country gentleman.

We were now within a couple meters. Perfect. I reached out my own hand.

An Esper is nothing more than a person who could manipulate the laws of physics in a particular manner. For example, someone with pyrokinesis isn't simply creating fire: they are heating up a group of oxygen molecules in a particular area and can move those molecules around to create the illusion of controlling fire. A Telekinetic merely added a new force to the forces already acting on an object and a teleporter merely changed the location of certain matter in space-time.

A smirk formed on my face. My fingers began to tingle. The alley lit up in white light. Volt upon volt of electricity appeared to pour out of my digits. I was an Electromaster, capable of manipulating, changing, and creating electrical charges around my body. This was a basic example of my skills. Simply create a few positive charges at the tip of my fingers and an equal number on his hand. Set the right voltage, and wham: one fried creep served up toasty.

The punk started to twitch underneath my onslaught and I released him from my electric grip. He fell to his hands and knees. His friends had already run away. "I head—I heard there was an Electromaster at Glashow, a Level Five said to be one of the greatest to ever go through Academy City. You're her aren't you?" he croaked out.

I nodded. His eyes widened. He unceremoniously got up and limped off. I walked over to the girl who was still blankly cowering by an incomplete brick wall. "Are you alright?" I asked as I knelt beside her.

She recoiled at my attempt to touch her. I bit my lip. "I'm just trying to help. My name is Mikoto Misaka, what's yours?" I asked.

The girl perked up. "Mik-Mikoto Misaka?" She stammered.

"Yes, that's me. What's your name?"

"My name? My name is…my name is..." the girl started repeating in a quiet voice. I gave a reassuring nod. This wasn't good.

"Do you have any personal ID or a cellphone?" I asked. That should clear things up. The girl checked her pockets and shook her head.

Not good, not good. "Okay. Where do you live?" I asked.

"I…I don't know," the girl whispered. She grabbed her forehead and started rocking back and forth. "I don't know."

"Do you have any friends? A place to stay?"

Her nails stared digging into her skin. "I don't…remember. I don't remember anything except," she said. Her brown eyes were widened. I gently grabbed her hands and brought them down. "Except. Except."

"My name is Lain," she said. A rush of energy fell over me. A sparks rushed through my core, like something was awakening deep.

"Let's go back to my apartment and we'll get this sorted out, okay Lain?" I said. I helped Lain get to her feet. She nodded.

I helped her back to my apartment. Lain sat down on the couch. She nervously started to look around. I brought up a school directory on the Wired from my laptop. It might take a while but there had to be a record of her somewhere.

The door banged open sending Lain up to the ceiling for a moment. Kuroko stormed in with her wavy, tawny ponytails furiously bouncing at the sides of her head. Her feet pounded the floor as hard as her heels allowed her. "How could you stand me up like that Sissy!" she shouted. Her eyes locked in on Lain. "And you left me there for her!"

Oh god, I thought she was over that stupid crush thing. Now she was becoming plain possessive. Great.

Lain started to tremble. I stood up. "I'm sorry Kuroko. Truly I am. But this girl needed help. As an Judgment officer you should understand helping someone," I calmly started and finished with a growl. Kuroko frowned. Her gaze drifted

"I—I'm sorry. I just wanted you to meet my friends and have a good time," she said. She looked over at my laptop. Her eyes sparked. "Wait, I think I'll be able to help you!"

Kuroko pulled out her cellphone. "Uiharu, we have a mission!" she shouted. "Yes I know the time, but it's for Sissy. Meet at the office tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp. Yeah, go ahead and bring Saten too. Good night," She said and hung up the phone

"Thanks Kuroko," I said. I gave her a thumbs-up. Kuroko went over to Lain and offered her hand.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes I can't control it. I'm Kuroko Shirai," she said. Lain nervously took her hand.

"I'm…uh, Lain," the other girl said. Kuroko vanished as their hands touch! A thud sounded near the front door. Kuroko was lying face down on the floor. I rushed over to her.

"What happen?" I asked. Kuroko struggled to her feet. She was breathing heavily.

"I don't…did I? Oh, never mind, we should get going," she said. "We should get something for Lain to sleep in."

That night Lain slept on the couch. Kuroko knocked on my door before she entered it.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Did you feel something strange, when you talked to Lain?" Kuroko asked. I scratched my cheek. I remembered that jolt when I touched her.

"Yeah, I guess so. Did you really teleport yourself across the room today?"

Kuroko bit her lip. "I don't know. I just hope we figure out where she belongs soon."

She walked away to go to bed. I joined her in the land of dream shortly afterwards.

We made it down to Kuroko's office the next morning. Lain was back in her school uniform, in case someone on the streets recognized her.

Waiting at the office was a girl with short black hair and a beautiful array of flowers in her hair dressed in street clothes. She was hard at work on a computer. Napping on a couch was another girl with long black hair. They both looked Japanese.

I wasn't surprised. Most of us gravitated towards people from the same country of origin. We could speak the same language, had similar customs, and so on. Though in such a natural melting pot, it was hard not to feel like we were losing touch with our old homes. Kuroko could barely hold a conversation in Japanese anymore.

I couldn't remember the last time Kuroko used Japanese seeing as English was the lingua franca in Academy City. Hell, I doubt I could read it any more.

The girl with the flowers on her head stood up and ran up to me. "You're…you're Mikoto Misaka!" she squealed with joy. Her English sounded flawless. She most have been brought here pretty young.

"Ye…yeah," I answered.

"It's such an honor to wait! Oh where are my manners? I'm Kazari Uiharu!" the girl rapidly added.

Uiharu had quite a bit of energy for someone who was out partying all last night. "It's alright. I'm pleased to meet you Uiharu," I greeted. She looked over at her companion and ran over to her. She not so gently woke her up. Uiharu brought her to her feet.

The new girl rubbed her eyes. "Ruiko Saten," she greeted. I nodded and offered my hand. Saten didn't seem too pleased but took it anyway, with a sort of snide smile.

"And just so you know I'm a Level Zero," Saten added for no reason. Okay.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mikoto Misaka," I nonchalantly introduced myself with a pleasant smile. Saten seemed confused as we shook hands.

"Um…yeah," Saten said. Uiharu turned to Kuroko.

"So what's up?" she asked.

Kuroko gingerly pushed Lain forward. "This is Lain. She's kind of lost. We were hoping you could help us find where she belongs," she said. Lain blinked, then sat down with Saten back on the couch.

"Okay, let's see," Uiharu said she returned to her computer. "Lain…Lain, do you have a last name?" she asked. Lain shook her head. Uiharu frowned as she continued typing.

"Okay, we'll use the uniform database first. Searching by first name would take hours," Uiharu explained. "We have a hit!" she declared after another minute of searching. I walked over and looked at the results.

"St. Germaine's All Girls Middle School in District Eight?" I read aloud. The uniform model was a perfect match to Lain's. The black jacket, the plaid skirt, and the badge all added up. "Is Lain a student there?"

"I haven't done a student search yet. This is on the public records so it should…what?" Uiharu gasped. A pop up window appeared. "An Avri just denied my access!"

"Which one?" Kuroko asked. Uiharu shrugged.

"I'm trying to do a root search to find it, but I just keep getting bounced to other Avri's all around the city!" she shouted. Her fingers were patiently waiting to make her next move. Her eyes twitched over each and every line as report after report popped up.

"Should we call Root?" I asked. Uiharu shook her head.

"If it is an Avri above the district level that's denying us and I keep this up, then the system will think we're attempting to breech it and report it to Root."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. Well crap. "Shut it off then, I don't want us to get in trouble," I said. Uiharu quickly disconnected and turned to Lain.

"I'm sorry, but it looks someone doesn't want us to access the files," she said.

"Maybe we should go by there? See what they know?" Saten recommended.

"Yeah! We can meet up here and make a day of it," I added. "We can go to this new stand opening on 32nd Street! They have hotdogs and they're giving away a free, uh," I stopped myself from finishing that statement. "Mustard, free mustard!" I added.

Saten cocked her head. "Don't hotdog stands always give out free mustard?" she asked. Kuroko snapped her fingers.

"You just want that free promotional Gekota charm don't you Sissy?" Kuroko pointed out. I hung my head. They were so cute and green and would be perfect for my collection. Alas, they knew my shame. Let them ridicule me until I am but a corpse strewn upon the battlefield of life.

Saten laughed a bit. "Sure, let's go," she said. Saten you are a saint amongst mortals.

Lain nervously clutched her hands together as the five of us. "So Lain, what do you like?" Saten asked. Lain shook her head. "You are a quiet one aren't you?"

Lain nodded. Saten put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you have an Esper Power?" Saten continued. Damn, maybe if we had asked that we could have found her in another database. Lain shook her head. "It's okay. Us Level Zeroes should stick together."

We found the hot dog stand. It was built in a small park that was pretty busy. Uiharu and Kuroko went off to get seats while Saten, Lain, and I got the hotdogs. I kept Lain in front of me. She might need some coaching to get through this.

Lain was up. Here we go. She raised a single finger. The man at the stand understood. He brought out the hotdog and placed it in a bun. "Mustard? Ketchup?" he asked. Lain shook her head and placed the money I gave her on the counter. She took the food along with the adorable frog mascot that was…Gekota.

"Last one kid, way to go," the man commented. I felt my heart give out. My knees completely collapse underneath. I barely kept myself up with my arms.

Lain turned around and blinked. She bowed down and handed me the Gekota. "Here," she said. I looked up at Lain. Though her face was still expressionless, there was this certain warmth to it. I grabbed her arm.

"Do you mean it?" I pleaded. Lain just nodded. I grabbed it and stared at all its plastic glory. "Thank you Lain. Thank you! Thank you!" I squealed.

"I guess Misaka likes the Gekotas," Saten commented.

"I guess," Lain quietly replied.

Once lunch was through we made it down to District Eight. It was the smallest district in the city, consisting of twenty blocks along Seventh Street in the southwest of the town. There all six of the private religious schools could be found along with a few churches and a mosque too. Most of us referred to the area as Church Street.

The schools on Church Street required a parent's permission to attend versus just advisor approval and test scores that the other institutions required. That made them extremely hard for students to get in.

St. Germaine's was about halfway down the street. Hopefully we'd get some answers. Who was the girl with asymmetrical hair who called herself Lain?

I kept asking myself that as we approached the dark, gothic architecture that made up the administration building of St. Germaine's All Girls Middle School. Fierce stone gargoyles stared down at us from their perches. This could only go well.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

><p>AN: Hello to what I can assume is going to be a small number of readers. I don't know, I can't see the future. Side note, Avri is pronounced like the name Avery.

Normally I state the objective and themes of a project here, so why break tradition. Okay one word: identity. Specifically what makes us...us. Not in the _Ghost in the Shell_ way where it's all existential and in your mind. More of the actual stuff of identity like origin, environment, people, and possessions.

If you didn't pick it up at the start of the story, I nuked the cannon. I nuked it good. That is probably a poor choice of word considering I am working off of two anime shows. Sorry if I offended you, but I couldn't think of a quicker visual shorthand for mass destruction.

It's not that I don't like the cannon of the original works, I just like to re-imagine them in someway.

So I love _Serial Experiment Lain__. _*checks profile picture* duh. If you're worried about the melodrama, you shouldn't because Lain's here and it can only get stranger. But due to my aversion to spoilers, I won't post my thought on the show here out of consideration for anyone who hasn't seen the awesomeness of Lain yet. Don't know why, that's just how I am. But if you want to hear my opinion on SEL just ask for it in a review or in a PM and I'd gladly share my interpretation.

Can I just say this about _A Certain Scientific Railgun_, it gets flipping weird near the end apparently. I enjoyed the anime though. It was good show, that is all.

Well that takes care of that. Have a comment or an idea you think I should explore, leave a review and tell me what you think!

Until next time, it turns out that Vader is Harry's father and left him under the protection of Gandalf in the Matrix {Somebody make that happen, now}


	2. Layer II

The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Chapter of _The Serial __Experiment_...

Layer II: A Gap in the System

The interior of the administration building was as medieval as the exterior gave. Our steps echoed around the grey stone walls. The whole place seemed horribly lit. There was just enough light to illuminate case after case of awards, plaques, and pictures lining the hallway.

A few staff members were walking around. Some even quietly chatted amongst themselves. Their steps icily crept up my spine. They all wore long black clothing that hovered a few centimeters above the floor.

Not a speck of dust or dirt dared show itself in the sterile hallway. The air felt heavy and smelled of chemicals. Everything was cold.

We found the office we were looking for. It was filled with antiques and trinkets from all over the world. The secretary was a black haired woman with long fingernails and stony lips

She was speaking with an Anti-Skill officer dressed in her SWAT armor and a technician from Root. Anti-Skill was the real law in Academy City. They ran the physical security for the city. Everything from special events to directing traffic was under their jurisdiction, if they didn't dump the assignment on Judgment of course. The organization spun off of the original United Nations Peace Keepers that protected student from protesters and terrorists during the early years.

The first Anti-Skill Officers were teachers that volunteered to support the Peace Keepers when they were stretched thin. Now that the Peace Keepers were gone, every teacher and most of the staff in Academy City was required to be at least a reserve officer.

Root was the Information Technology master of Academy City. It started with the development of the Wired a few years after the city was founded. The network eventually became too large for Root to properly monitor.

That's why they introduced the Avri units about seven years ago. They were simple Artificial Intelligence capable of monitoring the various layers of the Wired as local administrators. I bet Uiharu knew more and I'd have to ask her about it sometime.

Uiharu and I sat down outside the office for the Officer and the technician to finish talking. Kuroko and Saten walked Lain around the hallway. If we were lucky someone would recognize her or she would recognize something in the school.

I looked around at the general opulence of the school. It was incredible to just look at it. Uiharu started to scratch her head. She pulled out her phone and started tapping away. Her eyebrows scrunched together. A blur erupted where her thumbs were supposed to be.

"What are you looking for?" I asked. Uiharu bit her lip.

"Lain, her name, I swear I've heard it somewhere before."

"Well I imagine you've met someone with that name before," I suggested.

Uiharu shook her head. She kept working for another minute. A defeated sigh passed her lips. "Never mind," she said.

The Anti-Skill officer finished talking and walked out. She had long dark hair tied in a messy pony tail and steel blue eyes. Her name tag read Kimball.

She smiled at us and walked on. I stood up before Uiharu. The others joined us. My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest.

The secretary smiled at our approach. "How y'all doing?" she greeted with a thick Texas drawl. Most of the support staff were locals from the mainland. She saw Lain, her eyebrow rose up her forehead.

Lain turned her eyes to her feet. "Are y'all dropping off a new student?" she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "We aren't sure. Could you see if there is a girl named Lain supposed be attending class here?" I asked. The woman blinked. She locked her fingers locked together.

"Lain, you said? Let me see," the woman said. She started typing into her computer.

Her fingers went up to her forehead. "No we don't have any student by that name. But there is an empty entry around where the L names start," she said. She sounded confused. Her large hair quivered a bit. "That may be an error. Someone tried to hack into our system earlier and it's just now coming back together."

"Why would someone try and hack into here?" Saten innocently asked. She couldn't be serious, it was us!

The secretary looked like we had killed someone. Random curls popped out of her blonde bush of hair. I think she might have even twitched a little.

"This school houses daughters from some of the most prominent members of society. Their safety is one of our top priorities. We even have special permission from the City Board to keep our records private," she declared.

I nervously scratched the back of my head. "Well thank you for clearing that up. Heh, heh," I said. We quickly got out of the school.

Lain was totally downcast. None of us could blame her. Our first lead turned out pretty cold. She played with her long bang.

Saten snapped her fingers. "What if someone is trying to hide her!" she suggested. Kuroko shook her head.

"What makes you think that?" she said. Saten just shook her head.

"Think about it: she shows up with no memory of who she, wearing the uniform of a really elite school, whose public records cannot be accessed!"

Uiharu raised her hand. "Then why'd they wipe her mind?" she asked. Saten appeared behind Lain, placing her hands in orbit around Lain's head. Saten's fingers fluttered around.

"Because Lain knew too much of an evil organization's most secret plan!" Saten spookily stated.

Uiharu and Lain looked horrified. Kuroko rubbed her temple. I thought it was funny in a crazy; you're kidding kind of way. Saren gave Lain hug from behind.

"But don't worry, we'll keep her safe," Saten added. She smirked. Lain still looked panicked but a wave of relief washed over her.

"Okay, Okay," I said all while trying not to laugh. "We aren't going to figure out what the deal with Lain is in one day. So I think I we need to figure out where Lain should stay and get her some new cloths."

Looking at all of us, all of our clothes would be too big for her. We only had one problem.

"That's a good idea…but I don't have any allowance left," Saten glumly said. She let go of Lain. Uiharu nodded in agreement.

"Me too," she said.

"Same here," I said.

Every student receives a two hundred and fifty United States Dollars in allowance plus a meal plan every month. It was possible to get more with advisor approval but for the most part that was it. However that money doesn't go away at the end of the month. My eyes fell on Kuroko.

She fiercely shook her head. "Don't look at me…I burned up all my money two week ago," she quickly stated. Her hands waved wildly across her chest.

"Ah, ah, ah. I know you've been saving up for that perverted corset you saw in that girly mag I found under the couch a last," I growled. Kuroko's face turned bright red.

"No I haven't…I've been saving it for an emergency," she attempted to save her ass. We all stared at her. Lain confusedly looked at us. "You know like…this."

We took a bus down to District Eleven, the entertainment district. The mall, the clubs, the arcades, and other forms of entertainment permeated the area. There were no schools in the district and it was where most of the city's private businesses were located.

The place was way more packed for midday Saturday than I thought it would be. On the bus, Uiharu and Lain sat in front of me and Saten while Kuroko pouted in the back. Saten was more relaxed around me. She sprawled her limbs out over her seat.

"Almost...no it's gone," Uiharu muttered.

"Excuse me...Ms. Uiharu but what are you doing?" Lain asked. Uiharu perked up.

"I'm trying to find the Avri that blocked us from accessing their server," she answered.

"Avri?" Lain quietly worded.

"Yeah, they're Artificial Intelligences that monitor the Wired. Hook them up to a server and bam, instant admin," Uiharu enthusiastically said.

I leaned forward. "Wasn't that just a security measure?" I asked.

"Not one a school would implement. St. Germaine's server is supposed to be private. We should have gotten a login prompt not thrown around the city."

"So someone was straight up preventing us from even getting to the server?" Saten chipped in.

"May I try?" Lain asked.

"Uh, I don't think you have the skills or experience," Uiharu politely stated. Lain graciously raised up her hand. Uiharu sighed and gave the girl her phone. "Please don't get into trouble."

Saten and I leaned forward. Kuroko climbed over the seats to join us. Lain stared at the screen. Her breathing ceased. She hit a button, then another. The girl's thumbs disappeared. Lain herself disappeared into the machine.

Lain sighed after about a minute. "Found it," she said. She handed back the phone to Uiharu. The flowered girl cocked an eyebrow.

"Wow, that's…that's more than I thought we'd get!" she shouted. "How did you do this?"

"I just...talked to it, an Avri, that's all," Lain said.

"This is incredible. I would never have thought to follow that path! The only thing is I don't have access to this address. If I'm reading this right it is a district level Avri, maybe higher."

"What do you mean?" Kuroko asked.

"As a member of Judgment, I can access the basic information of all Avri units within my jurisdiction: its physical location, its Root technician, and its security logs. If I want anything more or information about a unit outside of my boundaries I'd need permission from Root and Anti-Skill to get it," Uiharu stated.

"Do you think you'll be able to get permission?" I asked. Uiharu shrugged.

"Hard to say, I'll send the request Monday," she said.

"What about hacking in?" Kuroko asked.

Uiharu bit her lip. "I'd rather not but I think I can if it comes to that."

"Maybe we'll figure out who's hiding Lain," Saten suggested. I nodded as the bus came to a stop.

We got out and began a lovely afternoon of shopping. Outside the mall was a trio of high school street performers. They were in the middle of an intricate dance, dressed in flashy elaborate costumes.

The central dancer was from Middle East, her long dark hair tied in a bun. She was an aquakinetic, making a stream of water intricately dance around her body in step with her movement.

Her partner on the left was a Hispanic man capable of bending the light around him in such a way that there appeared to multiple copies of him. His circular movements created a kaleidoscope like appearance around the area.

The other dancer was a blonde electromaster. She was levitating several golden chains and metal trinkets around her. I could feel the magnetic field she was manipulating. She was struggling to keep it evenly distributed around her. I thought to help her but I thought not to because her internal battle made her performance that much more impressive.

They ended the show with a crescendo, each dancer striking a final pose before releasing their concentration. The students and others that had gathered around started to clap. My group joined in. Lain was a little slow on the situation but quietly added a few claps to the cheering.

"Wow, that was awesome," Saten said. She sounded a little…jealous maybe?

I smiled and we got going. Everyone had a good time trying stuff along with the rest of us. Lain looked like she was having a good time. I noticed that she kept taking glances at Uiharu's phone.

It took a few quote-unquote gentle shocks to get her to take her wallet. Then Saten and Uiharu forced her to hand her allowance card over to the cashier.

Lain ended up in with a black shirt and red skirt as her primary outfit along with a yellow jacket. She got a beanie with a bear face on it as well as some other things.

After that we parted ways. Saten and Uiharu took another bus back to District Twelve and Lain, Kuroko, and I returned to District Seven.

That night someone knocked on my door. I opened it. Lain was standing there, looking at her feet.

"Mi-Mikoto, I'd like-like a computer," she whispered.

"Um, sure," I said. It wasn't a difficult request. I just needed to fill out a requisition form my school, and that was all.

"Thank you," she whispered. She walked back to her couch and I closed the door. Hopefully Uiharu would get permission to access that Avri soon. I wanted to learn more about Lain than probably Lain. If that were possible.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

><p>AN: Lain, doing inexplicable things since 1998.

Two of thirteen down. And It's all outlined. Like right now. I am never that organized. _K__nighthood _didn't get fully mapped out until last Monday.

One of the problems I realized I would have to address with the revamped Academy City. That is, diversity. Seeing as the original took place in Japan most of the characters were Japanese. Now that we've made the setting an international, it would too coincidental if every character we met was from Japan. What I'm getting at is that some characters will either be omitted or replaced with an analogue. Sorry, I wish it didn't have to be this way but I want to give the most realistic portrayal of Academy City as possible.

So with the Status quo established, we can start the real fun of totally messing with it. What do you think so far? Have a theory about what's going on or what's going to happen? Leave a review or send me a PM to tell me.

Until next time, you know _The Matrix_ came out after Lain right {And they still don't make sense}


	3. Layer III

The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Chapter of _The Serial __Experiment_...

Layer III: Breaking the Barrier of the Mind

It had been three days since I met the mysterious girl named Lain. Unfortunately the progress my friends and I had made in finding out more had been slowed by the end of the weekend. Classes weren't going to take themselves.

Lain had taken up residence in the apartment Kuroko and I shared. She refused to sleep in my room, preferring the couch. Once the computer I requested arrived, Lain had been in a much cheerier mood. I wish I could say the same.

I was waiting in the girls' locker room with everyone else. We were dressed out for gym. Everyone's face was marred with fear and anxiety.

A woman in a blue plastic hazard suit entered the room. "Ms. Misaka, we are ready for you now," she said. Her words broke my trance. I stood up and stretched my arms.

It was Diagnostic Day. The day every student stayed two hours after classes were over to be examined by a bunch of scientist types and have their power level recorded. I walked down the hall with the technician, out the front door to the pool. Several more technicians like the woman were setting up special plastic equipment behind a special barrier. They all wore the same blue plastic hazard suits.

One of them handed me a bunch of small metal discs. Wow they weren't even going to put me through the paces this time around. That was nice. Making things dance and levitate was fun sure. But I was in the mood for something a little more destructive

An air raid siren sounded. The technicians scrabbled behind the barrier. "Now testing Misaka, Mikoto ACID# 299792-4-58 for Level Five confirmation," someone said over the loud speaker.

Go time!

I picked a metal disc a gently placed it on my thumb and index finger as though I were going to flip it up.

One question I got asked a lot as an Esper and especially as a high level Esper was: what was it like to do my thing. It was…like I was flying. It came from the rush of energy that washed over my body when my subconscious crunched thousands of calculations while I forced my consciousness onto reality. It was there, in my own little world, that I felt kilometers above the ground. There I was _untouchable_.

The metal disk launched from my hand. It moved at about five millionths the speed of light, somewhere over the speed of sound, following a straight magnetized path way I created. The boom roared out over the land. Water rose up in a massive plum. Even the earth shook a bit.

Next shot loaded. Fire! The disk raced out of my fingers towards the target, leaving behind another small disaster. Every time I did one of these stupid tests I always held something back. I wasn't scared. I mean I wouldn't be Level Five if I was.

No, I just pulled my punches and it may sound stupid but I think it's because I remember my mom whenever I power up. Mostly I go back to a time when I got into fight with a kid in a playground back when I lived in Japan. I don't remember why we were fighting or even the kid's name. All I could recall was that won pretty handedly.

Mom yanked me off of the other kid was huddled on the ground. She told me that just because I had power; it didn't give me the right to abuse it. I had since taken those words to heart.

To be fair, if I did go all out the pool would be nothing but a crater. I sent another disk flying into the water leaving the largest concussive in its wake yet.

I lined up my final shot. It hit the target dead center. Another air raid siren roared over the roar.

"Railgun test complete, average yield: point-zero-six megatons. Effective range one hundred and fifty meters. Average shot deviation, seven centimeters. Level five confirmed," an announcer said over the PA. I sighed and walked away. Some girls swarmed me as I walked back into the locker room.

They gave me congratulations, back pats, and a million questions. I politely rebuffed most of them and made it back to my locker. It took me a minute to get back into my uniform. Getting out was far harder to exit than it was getting in. More girls had arrived while I was dressing.

Kuroko was probably still out testing by the lack of a lecherous stare aimed at me. I carefully weaved out of the room and walked over to the observation level to watch the other kids. My suspicions were confirmed.

My pink haired friend was finishing up the level three teleporting tests. According to her it was actually fairly simple. She merely had to move an object made of multiple materials to a specific target down range. This was apparently a difficult task for lower leveled teleporters, and separated a level two from a level three.

Kuroko merely laid her hands on the object. It vanished into thin air and reappeared thirty meters down range. A technician ran over the area where the object was with a metal detector. He gave a thumbs-up and walked down to the object. He did some more measurements before giving another thumbs-up.

Way to go. Kuroko walked up to the technician. She started pleading with him. My eyebrow rose. What was she up to? The technician shook his head. Kuroko clasped her hands together.

The technician nodded and walked about ten meters down range. He drew an X on the ground, walked back to Kuroko, and drew another one by her. Kuroko stood on the X.

She was going for a level four status? Oh, be careful. A level three teleporter could move small living things, such as a mouse up to about a small dog, without a problem. However a level four could move larger living things, like a large dog up to an average size man, including themselves. I saw her do it the night we met Lain.

I don't know how or why, but Kuroko could do it. She stepped onto the X. She clenched her fist.

Her body began to flicker! Kuroko dissipated, reappearing at about where the first X was. She then returned using the same method.

The technician gave a thumbs-up. Kuroko turned to me. I gave an approving nod. She teleported up to me.

"Sissy! Did you saw me do it!" she shouted. She wrapped me up in her arms. Careful Kuroko, I'd hate to charcoal you on your big day.

"That was awesome Kuroko," I said. I began to pry her off before her hands started moving any further down.

"I never thought I'd do it! But today…today it I broke the barrier of my mind!" she squealed. I finally got her off of me.

"Well I think we should go out for a nice dinner tonight," I said.

"Oh Sissy, I knew my feminine charms would win you over eventually!" She declared as she tried for another hug only to run smack into my palm.

"With Lain and Saten and Uiharu too," I added. Kuroko shoulders slumped quite a bit. "But it will be my treat."

That perked her up. "Oh you do care!" she cried out. Her arms reached out again.

"Okay, okay. Get dressed so we can go home and set this up," I said.

We were on our way back, wearing our school uniforms, to the apartment when I swear I heard something. It sounded like excessive background chatter creeping out of somewhere all around me. But the street Kuroko and I were on was pretty empty. The only other people around were a few people on their laptops at a café.

It certainly wasn't a radio transmission. I learned to block those out years ago.

"Sissy, what's wrong?" Kuroko asked.

I looked around. "Can't you hear them?" I asked. The chatting grew louder! I started clawing my forehead.

"There is no one here, Sissy."

An electric storm erupted around me. The bolts popped in every direction. I couldn't see anything but a thousand flapping lips whispering empty nonsense in my brain.

It was all around me. I saw a few faceless people walk up. They stared at me with absent eyes as they moved on. Go away! Go away!

Kuroko was staring at me like she just saw a ghost. My vision started to blur. I think Kuroko said something but I wasn't sure. There were hundreds of featureless people walking all around. Amongst the crowd was a single girl with a face.

No, not just a girl! It was Lain, with her strange asymmetric blowing in some non-existent wind. She was smiling and waving at me? Her lips moved but I couldn't hear her over the roar of the crowd. The streets began to bend and blur into unrecognizable forms. One of the faceless pedestrians passed in front of Lain and she vanished.

The scene grew stranger and more fluid each passing second. People started walking up walls. New illegible signs began popping up all over the place. The voices grew ceaselessly louder!

"Just shut up!" I shouted. "Shut up! Go away! Shut up! Shut up! Please just make it stop! Make it stop!"

The strange mannequin people looked at me, fell silent, and started to fade from sight. The scenery began to untwist and the strange signs disappeared. I braced myself against my knees. My chest heaved for air. Sweat or tears rolled down my face. Oh god what the hell was that!

"Are you alright, Sissy?" Kuroko finally asked.

"Fine. I'm…fine. Don't worry."

"Are you sure? That was quite the panic attack."

"I don't know. But I can handle it."

Kuroko nodded, but she I knew she didn't buy it. But she wasn't dumb enough to press the issue. The rest of the journey home was a mostly normal affair. While my heart refused to calm, I didn't slip away again. I was glad there weren't a lot of people around to witness my little outburst.

We entered the living room to find Lain had busied herself in our absence by building a new computer out of the one I got for her and other, newly acquired parts that were strewn out all over the floor. She patiently connected some ports to a board. The only immediate acknowledgement of our presence she gave was a simple, limp wave of her hand.

"Welcome home," she said after the piece she was working on was completed. Lain was dressed in shorts and a thin tank top.

"Hey Lain," I said. Did she know what happened earlier?

"How did you get all this stuff?" Kuroko asked. Lain shrugged.

"I went to check the mail this morning and there was an envelope addressed to me," she said. She held up a computer chip. "There were four of these inside it and a note that said to sell two of them at a shop in District Six."

What? "You went to District Six to sell a couple of computer chips?" I reiterated. Lain nodded.

Kuroko took the computer chip and examined it. "Holy! This is an Oracle Processor!" she exclaimed.

"Oracle Processor?" I asked.

"Yeah, this is some of J-Corp's top level hardware. Like not for public sale top level…and you got four of them…in the mail?" Kuroko asked Lain.

"Yes. They paid seven thousand dollars for them. It wasn't illegal, was it?" she asked.

"Not really, but I don't think JC will like that four unregistered Oracle Processors are out in the public," Kuroko said.

Lain took the chip back from Kuroko. She installed it on her board and closed up the console. The machine booted up with a roar of its fan. On Lain's laptop monitor, the J Corp logo popped up. "Do you like it?" Lain asked as she logged on. "I call it Delphi."

The user interface was pretty dense. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. "That's nice," I commented. "But uh, we're going out to dinner tonight."

That perked the girl up. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"I'm thinking that Tex-Mex place in the district," I suggested.

"Oh, nice. I'll phone Saten and Uiharu," Kuroko said. She pulled her phone out and dialed up our friends. Lain got dressed while I changed into street cloths.

We met the other girls at the border of the district, where districts eight, seven, eleven, and twelve connected. It was a good walk from there to the restaurant. I had to say Lain looked absolutely adorable with her bear hat on.

It was a place called _de_ _Tía_ _Julia_. Rumor was that it was a mobile burrito shop during the construction period that was so popular, the owner was given a stand alone restaurant near the District Seven and District One. Right on the bay too. The staff had us seated in a few minutes. Prime seating too, we could look out over the bay and see the water dance to the setting sun behind us. There wasn't much in the way of a crowd yet. This place was pretty popular with the teachers and they were probably waiting for us kids to get back home.

The waitress, probably a high school student, brought us a bowl of chips and salsa. Everyone dug in.

"So what are we celebrating anyway?" Saten asked between bites.

"Kuroko got bumped up to level four today," I answered. Saten bit her lip.

"Oh," she said. I braced her shoulder before it could slouch over.

"Hey, when you get to level one, we'll throw you the biggest party Academy City has ever seen," I assured her. That brought a smile to her face.

The waitress returned with our drinks. Lain and Saten were chatting and Kuroko was getting way to familiar with the chips.

"So, Uiharu...what's your ability anyway?" I asked.

Uiharu blushed. "It's nothing special and definitely not as cool as what the kids at Glashow," she muttered.

"Come on, every power is cool," I countered.

"I...uh...I can make an object I touch retain most of its original temperature," she said.

"So you never have to worry about cold soup?" I jokingly asked. Uiharu didn't get the joke by the look of her teary eyes.

"Oh shu sa her at wack," Kuroko mumbled mid-chew. Uiharu looked rather confused. Kuroko swallowed the chips and took a massive gulp of her Dr. Pepper. "At work, you should see her at work. We'd have to get new computer every week if she didn't have a fraction of her ability," she expanded. Uiharu smiled and blushed.

Our waitress returned with our fajitas. The chicken snapped and hissed in the skillets. The aroma of grilled peppers and onions filled the air. Kuroko unleashed the warm scent of fresh tortillas. Lain seemed a bit unsure as we dug in.

She quickly got into it. I had never seen one take to fajitas in such a ravenous manner. Lain must have eaten more tacos than what her plate provided.

That night after the other girls went home, and Kuroko and Lain went to bed, I was still up. I was working on some homework. It was hard to keep my eyes open. The homework could wait for after a quick little nap.

"Did you hear about Lain?" a voice whispered.

"Yeah I saw her last week at Cyberia," another voice said.

"What about Accelerator? No one has seen him in weeks."

"I heard Caiaphas has him."

"What about Railgun?"

"I think she's—"

My eyes shot open. I looked around. I was still in my room. My computer was still on. Okay, time for bed. Maybe I'd see a doctor tomorrow and check out Cyberia for clues about Lain. It sounded crazy but after the stonewall we hit over the weekend, anything was worth trying.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

><p>AN: You know why _A Certain Scientific Railgun_ is a good show? In what is supposed to be the fan service styled episode, not only is there character development for some of the side characters there is also a _2001: A Space Odyssey_ reference. I'm sorry, but that is freaking awesome.

On topic now by opening up a can of mind-screw. I mean you can't have Lain without someone on the verge of going crazy. What's the point otherwise? Also free cookies to who ever gets the tech reference! Leave your answer in a review.

Until next time, I know you want me to say it {but I can't let myself do that, Bluefire}


	4. Layer IV

The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Chapter of _The Serial __Experiment_...

Layer IV: Which Side of the Looking-Glass

"Aaaahhhhhhh," I said as the doctor pressed down my tongue with that stupid wooden stick. She shone that light right down my throat.

"Well from all I've seen, you're a physically healthy teenage girl," Doctor Cutter said. She was a British doctor that I had seen since I got into middle school. The doc turned it off and retracted the tongue presser.

"I know doc, it's just what happened yesterday. It was so bizarre," I said. Cutter nodded.

"Your concentration might be slipping and you're picking up radio signals again."

"No, they were nothing like that. I was _seeing_ things. That never happens when I listen in on radio signals," I countered.

Cutter crossed her arms. "Listen, Mikoto: it is pretty common for high level Espers to develop a mental illnesses as they grow in power and age," she said.

That was definitely new. "What are you saying?" I asked.

"Only that I'm glad you're keeping up with your health. But your behavior is well within social norms and nothing came up on your MIRs. I think you've just gotten stressed out about going into high school next year," Cutter suggested. Yes my four-point-o and Level Five status were truly causing me such distress over my future. Try the amnesiatic girl sleeping on my living room couch. Not that I was going to tell the good doctor about Lain.

"I'll prescribe something to help you sleep and recommend you take it easy," Cutter added. "Alright now let's get you checked out."

Great, sleep meds. That will totally help. I hopped off the examination table. We walked out of the front desk. Cutter started writing the prescription.

There were about a dozen students out in the waiting room. The younger kids were escorted by some Judgment officers while the older ones were there alone.

"So why do some Espers become so err…sociopathic?" I asked. Cutter paused mid-stroke.

"Well you'd have to talk to one of the brain surgeons they have running around District One for a more complete answer. From what I've gleaned, it has to do with the way an Esper substitutes the rules of reality, whether they mean to or not, for their own. After a while they begin to lose touch with reality," Cutter said. She finished the prescription and gave it to me.

"So should I be worried?" I asked. Cutter shook her head.

"No I think you're going to be fine. You're probably one of the most grounded kids here," she said. I took it with the most sincere smile I could muster. I gave a reassuring nodded. We parted ways.

Outside, Friday night was starting to creep in. I had to wait a nerve wrenching week to see Dr. Cutter. Luck smiled on me and nothing too weird happened in that time.

Most of the students were in uniform and heading up to the maglev train station above. I was all the way in District Two, the student services district. I headed up to the station as well.

The train silently arrived just as I made it up to the top. It was the five o'clock to District Four. If I played my cards right I could make the five thirty bus to District Seven, get changed, and go with the girls to Cyberia on time.

Kuroko was more than thrilled that I requested to go. I sat down on the train. At precisely five o'clock the train left the station. Its launch was so effortless and smooth; I was probably the first to notice we were off. I felt the shifting polarization below. That was the beauty of being an Electromaster I suppose.

The trains in the city ran perfectly timed most days thanks to the heavily automated Avri systems that monitored them. The busses also ran mostly on time thanks to a super advanced infrastructure, making the traffic lights so efficiently timed that traffic accidents were nearly wiped out. I think that an Avri ran those systems as well.

Most students enjoyed the train. I was starting to see why. When I was ten, my class went on a trip to one of the labs in District One. I got so excited that I accidentally created a magnetic burst. They shut down the rail system for months to come up with new safety procedures.

It was perfectly safe for me to be on board now and had been for years. I still was scared I'd mess something up again. Even in Academy City, an Esper's power was still capable of causing embarrassment.

Speaking of that, a couple of boys were giving me weird stares. They proceeded to whisper amongst themselves. Well it was never too early to start kicking butt.

The more I watched them I came to the realization they were elementary school kids. I had to be careful if they started something. The City Board wasn't big on older students fighting with elementary kids.

Two of the boys approached me. "You're...you're Mikoto Misaka," the boy sputter with a fairly noticeable German accent. He'd probably lose it all together pretty soon. Most kids did. Academy City was less a melting pot and more of a reeducation center in away. It wasn't some sinister plot, just the result of having an international staff that had to use English in order to communicate that was sent off to an island right off the coast of a global cultural powerhouse.

The boys were nervously sweating. "Yeah, I am," I said. One of the boys elbowed the other.

The boy raised his clasped hands. "Um I'm an uh…I'm an Electromaster too. See," he said.

He opened his hand to reveal a dancing metal butterfly lazily flapping its wings. I could feel the minor magnetic shifts happening inside his hands. His hands were twitching, eyes widened.

His concentration faltered after a few seconds and the metal butterfly fell into his hands. He hung his head. "But I'm not very powerful. Not like you," he muttered. I frowned.

"Well I think it's quite impressive," I sincerely assured him. I glanced up to see Lain standing behind the boys. Her head was curiously cocked to the side. Not this crap again! There were a lot of people.

"Ms. Misaka?" the boy asked. Lain straightened up her head.

"It's nothing kid, just tired. You keep working on that okay?" I answered. Lain disappeared just as the train stopped. Come on Mikoto, you're losing it. Deep breath…

…and release. Much better. I made it down to the street and grabbed the bus without incident. I arrived at the apartment complex right on time. The down stairs was pretty busy as usual. The game room was packed with students. They were having a game tournament of some kind. It was the new _Super Smash Bros._, with Gekota as a playable character!

I anxiously looked at the elevator banks then back to the game room. Damn it all! I ran up to the elevator the moment its doors parted open and slipped inside, manically pushing the close button after I punched my floor. My foot started to impatiently and uncontrollably tap.

The car stopped on my floor. I calmly stepped out into the hallway. I heard noises erupting from inside my apartment. Oh boy. I opened the door.

Indeed Kuroko was half dressed, holding up dress of questionable class, and chasing Lain across the living room. Occasionally she'd teleport in front of Lain. "Come on Lain, I just need to see how much skin this one shows," she shouted. I lived in a city-school filled with kids who could levitate an elephant with a thought or read my mind with a passing glance. Yet this had to be one the strangest moments of my life.

My brow twitched. I place a hand on my temple. Well, hopefully that tournament was still taking entries. Kuroko heard the door slam behind me and looked over. A massive smile ripped open across her face. She teleported in front of me.

"Oh Sissy, you're back! Are you alright? You should have let me take you to the hospital; it is part of my job as an officer of Judgment," she quickly told me.

I sighed. "I'm fine, Kuroko," I answered. I brushed past her. "And is it also part of your job at Judgment to chase your roommate around in an attempt to make her wear something against her will?"

"Sorry Lain," Kuroko said. She shook her head.

"Alright, work on your mediocre plans to seduce me later and get dressed so we can meet up with Uiharu and Saten," I said as opened my door. I entered my room and slipped into a skirt and black blouse, not to different from what Lain usually wore.

Kuroko and Lain were ready to go. Of course Kuroko wore that skimpy dress she tried to make Lain wear. She was cocking her hips with a leg popped out like model. Lain was dressed in a similar fashion to myself. She wore her adorable bear hat.

My pink haired friend had to drag me past the game room. She had to get Lain to push me past the door. I tried not to tear up as I witness my favorite green frog mascot pummel a red hatted plumber with a big mallet.

Outside I took another deep breath before we walked down to Cyberia. It was starting to fill up. A few groups of kids were hanging outside the building. Most of them were plugged into their cell phones, tapping their way into the digital world all around us.

I heard the pulse of music beat from inside the club calling me. We walked down the stairs and entered a massive chamber. The atmosphere swallowed us.

Plenty of students were dancing out on the erratically lit floor. Some were sitting in dark booths squeezed along the sides of the building. Much like their classmates outside, most of the kids were buried into the Wired. A thick haze was being generated by several fog machines up in the ceiling. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.

Saten waved us over to the corner booth she had reserved. We walked over to her. I looked around. "Where's Uiharu?" I asked over the pounding music. Saten pointed to the dance floor.

Uiharu was wearing a tank top and long skirt. She was performing the most graceless, out of time, arm flailing dance I had ever seen. Yet she was smiling and just not giving a crap about it. She saw the three of us had arrived and worked her way out over to us.

"What's got looking so cheery," Kuroko greeted.

"Didn't you hear? Our branch got selected by Root to be a beta tester for the Protocol Eight update!" Uiharu enthusiastically stated.

"What?" I asked.

"The Wired is getting its first major upgrade in like seven years! Good-bye Protocol Seven, hello sweet new," Uiharu elaborated.

Really? I vaguely remember when Protocol Seven went up. It was an apparently a huge disaster. The Wired was down for weeks, no one could call outside the city, and the grid refused to operate. I wouldn't really know. I wasn't allowed near a computer until I was nine.

Saten hit the menu button for us once Uiharu was seated next to her. I sat between Lain and Kuroko. Virtual menus appeared inside the table.

Lain scrolled through the menu several times. She frowned.

"What's wrong?" Uiharu asked.

"There aren't any fajitas on the menu," she muttered.

The other girls started to joke with Lain about the comment. I was distracted by the feeling of unwanted attention falling upon me. I nonchalantly gazed around the room, straining to see in the strange shifting lighting of the dance floor. Nothing caught my eye.

I returned to my menu and selected something. Hopefully it wasn't expensive. Once the order was in we went over to the floor to burn some time before the food came. The music picked up, but I paid it little attention. I was looking for something, something that connected Lain to this place.

Maybe I was following some insane fever dream, but something about those words I head that night nagged at me to follow up. For one, it sounded too coherent; like I was listening in on a conversation. Two, Cyberia had a growing number of student patrons. Odds were that one of them knew Lain.

Again I felt someone stare at me. I spotted a girl with messy, dark hair and deep, blood shot, black eyes weighted down by heavy dark bags standing along the edge of the floor. Her outfit was a ruffled mess. She kept her hands nervously clutched together. She disappeared after the briefest eye contact.

The girl appeared again a few minutes later. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Saten approach the girl. Saten drew her attention, giving me a chance to approach.

"You've been watching my friend since she arrived. Do you have a problem with her or something?" Saten asked the girl. The girl turned back to me.

"Hey, Saten! Thanks but I've got this," I said. Saten gave the girl a mean stare but went back to our table in a huff.

I turned to the girl. "Listen, I already have one annoying girl pining over me. So do me a favor just let your crush go now before you get a dose of major disappointment," I said. Please have Kuroko not hear that. The girl continued to stare at me with blank eyes.

"Well are you going to say something?" I asked.

The girl looked around the thunderous chamber. "No, no, no, no! Not here! Not here! Too many ears! Too many ears!" she hysterically mumbled. I think I just tripped into crazy. She grabbed my hand and led me to an isolated alley at the side of the club. She then shoved me against a wall.

Three…

Two…

"You came here with the girl! The girl with a single long bang!" the girl said. She started to quiver.

"Lain?" I asked.

"Lain…Lain…Lain, yes! Yes! That was her name! Lain," the girl distantly mused.

I grabbed the girl's hands. "Who are you?" I asked. The girl's head cocked side to side. She blinked multiple times.

"Name? Name…name…name? Yes, yes! Ha, ha, ha! I'm Alice Mizuki, an American attending eighth grader at St. Germaine's All Girls Middle School!" she said, adding extra emphasis on the certain, random syllables. Alice placed a hand on her chest. Zany strands of black hair fell across her widening eyes.

"Okay Alice, what do you know about Lain?" I calmly continued.

"Know? Know? I don't know...I don't _remember_ much. Not like them. They've _completely_ forgotten," Alice said.

"What do you remember? Who is Lain?" I gently continued.

"Lain was...Lain was," Alice started to repeat. The light in her eyes started to fade. "We had home room, friends, all normal, came here one night. Then...then _she_ took her...from us. Did something to our heads. Made us forget...her. But I wouldn't! They all think she's imaginary now! But she's the real Lain! The real Lain" Alice blurted out.

"Who took Lain?"

"A woman...in white, who never smiles," Alice cryptically answered. Her head started to aimlessly roll around.

"What do you remember just after the woman did her operation?"

I could feel her lucidity slip. A flashlight shone on us. I looked over to see Officer Kimball from earlier. Alice let go of me. She started to shake.

"Alice? It's Persephone, what are you doing here? You know you're not allowed to leave the facility," The officer greeted. "Dr. Kiyama was so worried about you."

"No, no," Alice mumbled. She placed her right pointer and middle fingers on my temple. Shock time crazy chick!

My mind's eye blurred. Images appeared, sounds echoed around. I was in some sort of chamber, lying on a bed or a table. A woman dressed in white with golden locks was standing over me. I couldn't make out her face. There was a loud hiss. The room grew hot. Someone shouted.

Everything went black.

I shot up out of some sheets. My sheets! I was in my room, surrounded by my friends. They were all extremely worried.

"Uiharu," I said before anyone else could speak. "I need you to look up everything you can find on Alice Mizuki. Okay, now you can express you concern." I leaned back down to listen to them tell me how much they care and how I shouldn't do that again and how Anti-Skill won't always be there to save me.

I noted their sentiments, but continued to focus on the next task: finding the woman in white. She was the next link, the most important one yet. Hopefully Alice would remember more next time I saw her.

My friends left me to sleep. Save only Lain.

"That girl you went with. I know her, from somewhere," she whispered. I nodded.

"And she knows you too," I answered. "You'll meet her soon. I promise."

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

><p>AN: Among the annals of under-appreciated characters in fiction, there is a whole wing dedicated to Alice Mizuki. Just watch _Serial Experiments Lain _again, without her there's no show.

I liked this chapter. It took a while to get it together. I was especially unsure on how to handle Alice. This interpretation originated with a joke theory I had with a friend once.

Things are starting to move now. Lain's past is starting to come into focus ever so slightly.

Until next time, ever notice that it's almost 2015 {and yet it still feels about the same as 2005}


	5. Layer V

The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Chapter of _The Serial __Experiment_...

Layer V: Blurring the Lines

Sweat poured down my brow. My heart beat at one hundred kilometers an hour. I heaved for air. Each breath seemed to inhale another layer of dust and smoke to my lungs. It wasn't enough to stop me.

The battle had been relentless. Our goal was just in sight. All that was in our way now was this creature of steel. It turned out to be quite the adversary. But just when I thought we had the mechanized monster on the ropes, Saten decided to make an insane charge. Her attack connected and our foe was nearing the end.

Saten unfortunately left herself wide open. Kuroko was wounded in the far corner of the chamber and Lain was mending her wounds. That left me the only one who could do something! If I failed, Saten was dead and so were Kuroko and Lain.

I curled my fist. Tucked in my palm was the instrument of our salvation. Do or die time. I let go. Time slowed down as I watched it go.

Everything stopped. "Sixteen! That's a hit!" Uiharu eagerly shouted from behind her shield. I stared at the die. A sigh went around the table, save for Saten who was smiling like she just outfoxed Paullous and Varro.

"I told you it would be fine," Saten said. She placed her hands behind her head. A self-satisfied smirk was strewn across her face.

Kuroko frowned. "That barely made it, Saten and We're not out of this yet," she warned. "Sissy still has to roll for damage."

She was right. I picked up four 6 sided dice. I stated mixing them in my hand. This wasn't how I'd expected to spend my day. Today I was supposed to meet with Alice Mizuki.

Uiharu had done a good job finding out about Mizuki. She was currently on medical leave from St. Germaine's at a mental hospital in District One. Alice was the oldest daughter of a J Corp executive and a talented Level Three contact-mempath with good grades. Memory-telepathy or mempath was a fairly common ability that allowed a user to share their memories and view others. _And_ like a lot of upper level students within the telepathic-esque family of Esper powers, Alice had developed schizophrenia.

So why was she at Cyberia and not back at the hospital? Why was the same officer looking for her at Cyberia and was at St. Germaine's? I needed to figure out how Alice fit with Lain.

To that end, I needed to find out who Kiyama was and what she knew about Alice. A basic search on the Wired pointed to a pair of twins in District Six with aquakinesis and pyrokinesis respectively. That one was pretty easy to cross out. The other hit directed me to a doctor working at a hospital in District One.

Doctor Kiyama was attached to several completed classified projects and a couple of active classified projects. The only picture Uiharu could come up with was an Identity Card Photo from about seven years ago. Kiyama was a young woman back then with light brown hair and a near permeant looking scowl.

My plan to visit them at the hospital this weekend was undone by Hurricane Calvin. Tree Diagram predicted the storm a week in advance and the hospital had to reschedule my visit for the following Monday after the storm. Two weeks of waiting, writing question, and digging up information put on hold. So now I was holed up in the Judgment office where Kuroko and Uiharu worked.

Most of the mainland cities and town had evacuated to Huston earlier in the week. Academy City didn't need to. The original purpose of the research facility that was built before Academy City was to develop hurricane proof buildings and systems for harnessing energy from them. The result was a fortress like city capable of enduring the worst storms the sea could throw at it.

Sure the students were confined to their quarters during the storms, and Saten and I only got to stay at the Judgment office because we volunteered as emergency caregivers. Uiharu falsified an ID and the neccisary paperwork for Lain so she could stay with us too.

Alas being a volunteer didn't mean much in the clinical procedures of Academy City. So we dusted off Uiharu's old rule books and went off questing in the realms beyond this one to pass the time.

Saten was a talent rogue, capable of picking any lock.

Kuroko was a righteous paladin, fighting for righteousness.

Lain was a loyal cleric, keep us up in our darkest hour.

And I was a skilled ranger, protecting from a distance.

Alright time to see what the fates have in store. I released my dice.

A siren sounded from across the room. Uiharu and Kuroko jumped up. They rushed over to the computer console.

"What's happening?" Saten asked. She stood up and walked over to the other two. I looked out the window. Calvin was raging outside.

Lain and I went to the window. I heard the rumble of the thunder and the pounding rain.

"An elementary bus crashed a couple of blocks up," Uiharu said.

"Why was a bus out and not in lockdown?" Kuroko asked. She folded her arms across her chest. Uiharu quickly typed in a query.

"Bus 2163 missed the lockdown deadline by two minutes and was ordered by Anti-Skill to find cover. Something must have happened and they tried to move but got beat up by the storm," she theorized. "Something must have happened to their radio because the only thing that it's emitting is an automated distress call."

I turned my head over to the other girls. "What's Anti-Skill's ETA?" I asked. Uiharu brought up a map that had Anti-Skill's deployment on it and a camera feed of the crash area. Saten's eyes widened.

"We can make it there faster than any of them," she said. Saten was right, it would take Anti-Skill was at least fifteen minutes away in optimal conditions. We could get there in three minutes easy. "We have to do something!"

"Yes but all we have is the Redoubt Crawler and we woefully ill-equipped to carry out a rescue operation," Uiharu glumly added. I looked at the wreckage. The bus had a massive gash ripped in its side and was flipped over in the middle of the street.

"But we have extra steel and welding helmets right?" Saten asked.

Uiharu slightly nodded her head. "Yeah, but—"

"Come on, I'll explain on the way!" Saten shouted. We followed her out to the umbilical corridor that connected the office to our Redoubt parked outside.

The Redoubt Crawlers were specially designed vehicles for traversing harsh weather, like the currently raging hurricane. It was basically a small grey tank, only built more aerodynamically but lacking any heavy armaments. Evidently there used to be a turret for applying water to fires in post-storm fires. Then the _Grand Theft Auto_ series became popular in the city and the Safety Board said no more tank-like vehicles for the students specifically selected to assist in law enforcement.

We reached the side door into the crawler. Uiharu and Kuroko opened it up. They quickly went to the front of the vehicle. Lain and I took a couple of the side chairs. Saten went to a footlocker and started rummaging around in it.

Uiharu pulled up a remote controller. "Wait; is that a three-sixty controller?" I asked. The girl nodded. This place was weird.

Saten took something out of the box then took her seat. She tossed her prize at me. It was a black welding helmet.

My eyebrow cocked up. "Okay, once we get there, Kuroko is going to teleport into the bus and give aid to anyone hurt inside and keep the kids back while Misaka patches the side with the spare steel with the lightning. Then we pull it up right and help it on its way if needed," Saten explained. She formed a gun with her middle and index fingers

"Hold on! That's Anti-Skill Property, we can't use it! What if they need it for an emergency?" Uiharu shouted.

"This is an emergency," I countered. "Those kids are in danger and we are the closed ones who can do something."

Kuroko placed a hand on Uiharu. "They'll understand," she said. Uiharu sighed and kept driving.

I wasn't sure about Saten's plan to help the kids. The part about Kuroko teleporting into the bus to aid was perfect. But me welding the shut with my electricity?

Theoretically it was possible. My electricity could easily be as powerful an industrial plasma torch in concentrated doses. Only I never tried something so precise and to try it out in the middle of a storm didn't seem ideal. Especially if the wind picked up, then I'd have to focus on keeping my body magnetically attached to the bus as well.

We came to a stop near the sight. I looked out the front. The bus was being pelted with rain. Kuroko handed me a wireless earpiece communicator.

I put it on. "Testing. One, two. One, two," Uiharu said.

"I hear you," I replied.

"Good on my end," Kuroko announced. I picked out a heavy rain coat as did Kuroko. She grabbed a first aid bag.

The pink haired girl then closed her eyes. She vanished and appeared on top of the turned over bus then vanished again. I grabbed the mask Saten handed me. Lain put on a coat too.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Lain zipped up the jacket.

"I'm going to help," she quietly declared. Saten started collecting the fifty centimeter by fifty centimeter thin steel panels.

"It's okay Lain, stay here," I said.

Lain clenched her fist. I felt myself go dizzy, concentration shot. The cabin lights flickered for a second. Saten dropped the panels in her arms and braced me up. Uiharu gasped. The girl looked…angered? No, sad.

Her breaths were labored. Strands of hair rose off of her head. Her eyes went to her feet. "I…I just want to do something other than sit around like always. Please, let me help," she whimpered.

My head stopped spinning. "Okay, help Saten collect steel and bring them to me," I said. She nodded and got to work. I placed the mask on top of my head, pulled up my hood, grabbed a panel, and went to the door. Uiharu punched a button, opening the door.

I stepped out into the deluge of the storm. The rain pounded the ground, creating a shifting rhythm all around. My body already felt soaked. I quickly made my way to the bus. A simple use of magnetism lifted me up top. I surveyed the gash in the side of the bus. It ran about five meters long and was fairly wide. The panel barely made it over it.

"Hey Kuroko, how is it in there?" I asked over the comm.

"Pretty bad Sissy. There is a ton of water down here and a lot of blood too," she disparagingly answered.

"Alright, tell everyone to move to the side. I'm going to start work," I said. If I even can.

I pulled the mask down. I could barely see. It sent a chill of claustrophobia down my back. My hand formed a gun. First off I created a magnetic field to contain any offshoots. Next I formed the necessary charges.

Electricity began to pop and crackle inside the container. I felt a wave of heat fall over me as the concentrated electricity began to weld the panel onto the bus. It was a slow process but I finished in about a minute.

Saten and Lain pulled up on top of the bus and started lining up the panels. I quickly began working on getting the panels attached.

I heard a loud thud behind me. Lain gasped. I pushed up my mask and turned around. Saten was no longer there. Lain held her hands to her mouth. I went over and saw a trail of blood in the layer of water on the ground that led to Saten, who was floating down the street.

She was already fifteen meters away and gaining distance fast. I had to think of something! Time started to slow down. I felt something stir in my mind. Lain had pulled out her phone. Her thumbs were hacking away.

My vison started to blur. Not now, not here. Voices started to filter through. It was all petty conversations whispering nothing in my mind. I saw Lain standing over Saten. Lain was also standing on a traffic light above the street, and on the sidewalk across from that Lain. There were dozens of Lains all around. She was also still with me on top of the bus. I think.

The Lain clones were standing around, intently studying every square centimeter of the street

Everything then went normal. Lain had put away her phone. I had an idea to save Saten! I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my socks. Lain stoically watched, not even raising a hand in protest.

"Misaka, what are you doing?" Uiharu asked in panic.

It felt horribly cold without my feet coverings. I magnetically pulled myself over to the top of a nearby stoplight. Keeping attached with my feet, I took a deep breath and visualized my plan.

"Saving Saten," I replied.

"Are you insane?" Uiharu shouted. I wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question.

I launched myself forward, catching the next stoplight with my feet. Technically I could have left my shoes on. But those extra few centimeters might have thrown off my calculations if my concentration slipped. Especially after I retrieved Saten.

I jumped to the next traffic light. The distance between Saten and I was starting to close as I picked up pace with my leaps. My heartbeat slowed down

Saten was almost right below me. The water was picking up speed. I took a deep breath and dropped down. It was a bracing hitting the water.

I grabbed my friend. She was bleeding pretty badly from a nasty head wound. Her lips mumbled something incoherent.

"Hold on, Saten," I said. I reached out with my power. We began to lift ever so slowly off the street. I landed on top of the traffic light. Thunder rumbled above us. Saten kept talking to herself. I leaned in and jumped to the next one.

My footing didn't click. We started to fall. I couldn't make the necessary calculations! I looked down at the street below. Crap, crap, crap!

Someone grabbed hold of my free arm. For a split second I felt my brain complete the needed recalculations. We were lifted back on the light. I looked about only to find there was no one around. Kuroko! No matter the crap I gave her about her crush on me, she always came through when I needed her. I looked up to find nobody there.

It took another two leaps but we made it back to find Anti-Skill hard at work fixing up the bus. An EMT took Saten from once we were back on the ground. I was then escorted to an Anti-Skill truck without a word. They placed me in the back with Uiharu, Kuroko, and Lain.

We were driven back to the office where an Officer was waiting for us. It was Kimball, again. She didn't look pleased. Her dark hair was a frazzled mess barely held together in a loose bun. We quickly took a seat on the couch. Kimball slammed her hand down on Kuroko's desk, staring at us with an irritated rage.

"I'm going to make this brief, girls. I've been working in this city for the past nine years, with six hurricanes between them. But this is the first time I've ever seen Judgment Officers so utterly disregard their parameters," she growled. She directed her gaze over to me and Lain. "And don't BS me with the not-in-Judgment routine; you two are part of this regardless."

The four of us couldn't help but squirm in our seats. Kimball sighed. "However, I get why you acted. You were closer and able to render assistance, something no one in this line of business could resist. So there won't be any further push from our end. But I hope you learned something about your friend's injury," she concluded. She put on her rain coat and walked out, staring at Lain for a second longer as she passed. Lain just sat there stiff as a board, eyes glassed over as they gazed into nothing.

"I don't like her," Kuroko huffed once she was safely gone. It was starting to get unnerving the way she showed up, like she was always watching us. That look she gave Lain led me to believe she too knew something about the girl. I doubt she'd be kind enough to oblige our curiosity and as an Anti-Skill officer she could make our lives hell. So I'd skip her in the questioning queue.

"Yeah, she seems to show up all over the place. Anyway, thanks for saving me out there," I added.

Kuroko's eyebrow cocked up. "I didn't save you. Unless you plan on some token of affection as a reward," she said. She leaned in close to me, her lips puckered.

"You...but...I," I stammered. Hand, I felt a hand grab me and help me up.

"Are you feeling okay, Misaka? Do you need your medication?" Uiharu asked. I involuntary twitched. Doctor Cutter's sleep medication had been working wonders. No weird dreams or random mental breakdowns in the middle of the street since I started. But I was no junkie. Over-relying on pills was going to dull my senses.

"I'm...fine," I said. Who saved me then? There was no one else around who could have helped me. A wave of exhaustion hit me like a bulldozer to a condemned building. I lacked the energy to so much as lift an arm.

Lain started to twitch. Blood oozed out of her nose. She collapsed into my shoulder. Kuroko jumped up and grabbed some tissue paper. Uiharu went over to the first aid kit.

We quickly treated Lain, placing her head in my lap. Within a few minutes we stopped the bleeding. Her eyes popped open and she sprang up with a massive heave of air.

The exhaustion that crippled me just moments ago vanished. Uiharu started wiping the dried blood off her face. She put a hand to Lain's forehead.

"You seem fine. No fever," she said. Lain swung her feet off the couch.

"I'm sorry," Lain muttered. "I didn't mean to cause trouble for you."

"What happened?" I asked.

Lain rubbed her eyes. "Did I…I help?" she whispered. "I think I..."

She collapsed again. For the next couple of days we waited out the storm. Lain drifted in and out of consciousness until the all clear was given. She barely said a word whenever she was awake. Instead she stared at me or out the window with her vacant stare.

We got on the first bus we could find to visit Saten at the hospital. It was a pretty busy. Not with injuries due to the storm, just the usual assortment of ailments that besieged a city composed mostly of children.

A doctor led us through the super sterilized hallways to Saten's room. Our friend was longingly staring out the window. She turned to us and confusedly cocked her head.

"Do I…know you?" Saten asked. Uiharu began to tear up, ran up to Saten's side, and bawled into the sheets. Kuroko and I couldn't help but roll our eyes. Lain looked around in confusion.

Saten ruffled Uiharu's hair. "Kidding, geez," she said. Uiharu looked up, sniffling.

"You are so cruel, Saten," she spat.

We all laughed, save Lain who was still quiet. "So what did they do?" Kuroko asked. Saten lifted up her long hair and revealed several stitches.

"Not much. I'm just glad they didn't have to run a Testament regiment on me," she said with a shudder.

"I don't know, sometimes I think your brain could use a little adjustment," Uiharu grumbled. In the wild myths associated with the city found on the Wired Testament machines were often the villain's ultimate weapon or _dei ex machina_ for fixing plot points in the myths about the city. Testament was in reality a piece of medical hardware used for reconstructing a person's mind after serious head trauma.

That didn't mean that they were totally benign. Behavior modification was an application Testaments could perform. "Screwing around with someone's head like that isn't something to joke about. You could really damage someone's personality with that kind of power," I commented. Surgical accidents were one thing, but I couldn't imagine someone so twisted they would actively manipulate someone else's mind like that.

Uiharu sighed and nodded. "I know," she turned to Saten, "but you could work on being less reckless."

Saten placed a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, what did I do to get a friend like you?" she mused.

"Come on will you at least try?" Uiharu asked. Saten nodded with a sincere smile. A slight shimmer could be seen in her eyes.

"No promises," she teased. Saten looked over to Lain. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Lain looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention and you fell and—"

"Hey it turned out alright, didn't it? Don't worry about it Lain," Saten broke her off. She turned to me with a resigned smile. "Life happen and you can't control the outcome."

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

><p>AN: This chapter took a lot more time to put down than I would have liked. I wouldn't call it writer's block, more of a fork in the road. I wanted to introduce somethings but spent most of the time trying to figure out how and where. Well thankfully there is editing.

The final product isn't exactly what I wanted for this chapter. But when has a plan ever survived first contact? I play _XCOM_, I know the drill. Stupid berserkers. Anyway the chapter turned out well I think.

All of that and I didn't even advance the plot much. Well I did just hammer in four chapters worth of plot, so why not take a break. Why not relax a bit before we kick in to the final leg? Leave a review to tell me how relaxed you are.

Until next time, ever notice that _XCOM: Enemy Unknown_ and _Mass Effect 3_ have a similar ending {except one didn't kill the internet}_  
><em>


	6. Layer VI

The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Chapter of _The Serial __Experiment_...

Layer VI: Student Health Hazards

One in twenty.

One in twenty.

One in twenty.

I don't remember where I first heard that fraction or who said it. But I do remember repeating those words over and over during my flight to Huston from Tokyo.

Only five percent.

Only five percent.

Only five percent.

That was my mantra on the bus ride to Galveston. To my childish mind those odds were foolproof. Who could lose?

I don't think I was ever happier than the day I arrived at Academy City. My dream of becoming the greatest Esper of all time clutched tightly in my heart. It was a childish dream perhaps, but one I readily bought into.

But like all such dreams, it was fleeting.

My whole world shattered into a thousand tiny fragments after my first aptitude test. I turned out to be among _that_ five percent. _That_ one in twenty. _That_ I, Rukio Saten, was a lowly Level Zero. No manifested powers. And I remained a Level Zero since that day and probably still will be on the day I leave.

It was a strange thing. They always said you had the potential to be a manifested Esper, carefully choosing their words as not to guarantee you'd actually develop an ability. The gracious city board still let Level Zeros stay because there was still a chance we'd develop an ability. After all we had the quote-unquote still had the genetic markers of an Esper. So I suspected that they wanted us in their records to see if Esper powers were genetically inheritable.

When I first attended class, it wasn't that big of a deal. Just about everyone was a Level One so it was difficult for us to tell who really had powers and who didn't. But once I got to elementary school everyone else seemed to leave me in the dust.

Actually more like left in rocket exhaust. They were soaring worlds away and I was still stuck here on the ground. Usually they came back to Earth to walk the planet as demigods bent on impressing us mere mortals.

I wasn't jealous of those with developed abilities. Well a little, but it wasn't some driving passion or prejudice. I mean I wouldn't be friends with Uiharu if it was. There were still some that made me so mad! There arrogance annoyed me to inhuman levels! The Level Fours and _especially_ the Fives. They flaunted their powers over the rest of us not as annoying-but-tolerable, self-centered brats; rather they acted as the cruelest bullies. Once a petty spat between a couple of them leveled an office building in District One.

It was fortunate I suppose that there were only seven Level Fives in the city. I would have been content to have finished up my schooling without ever meeting one.

Then Uiharu stepped in. Through her I met Mikoto Misaka. I wasn't sure how we'd get along at first. I was prepared to hate her.

Life just had to throw me for a loop. Misaka turned out to be pretty cool and laid back. I mean she was a total dork from time to time, but in an adorable fashion. She was awesome.

That's why it made me angry that I screwed up so badly at the bus. She could have gotten hurt trying to save me! That wasn't fair. And I swear that something happened.

I wasn't exactly one hundred percent there in the head to be fair. It felt like Misaka slipped and that we were falling to our doom. Then I felt something, like time slowing down around us. I swear I saw Lain, her weird haircut and vacant expression and all _grab_ Misaka's hand and pulled us up.

Lain couldn't have done anything though. It was strange but I was afraid to ask her about it, even when it was just the two of us. We were at the mall, enjoying lunch in the food court. Misaka and Shirai were seeing that Alice girl that Misaka met at Cyberia a few weeks ago, while Uiharu was on duty with Judgment.

Thus the two of us were left alone to hang out on another slow Saturday. I slowly sipped my Dr. Pepper. Lain lazily played with the remains of her Panda Express. The main rush was starting to disperse.

Hanging out with Lain alone was a surprisingly difficult task. It was a strange lesson to learn. To say Lain was easy to forget was an understatement. She spent most of her time just staring at a particular object that caught her eye, allowing me to wander the store. She would lock eyes with a stuffed bear or other such animal and continue to bore into to its head until I pried her away, usually after I remembered her whilst rummaging through the next store.

And then there was the electronics shop. I thought I'd have to get the manager to help me drag her out of there. She had to touch everything in the place. She'd pick up a piece and list off the specs to herself. You'd think she was whispering to her lover in some cheesy pulp romance story the way she spoke about the pieces of silicon she held in her hands.

It felt like the girl wasn't even human sometimes.

After that near fiasco we got lunch. I was about to get up. We were going to the arcade to wait for Misaka and Sharai to get back.

I looked around for a gap to make a break for it. Amongst the crowd of students were several Anti-Skill officers. That was to be expected to keep some order in the place, but these officers were decked out in full gear. Body armor, helmets, and assorted weaponry all to make sure some high school kids didn't vandalize a back alley wall? No something was wrong.

I grabbed Lain's hand and prepared to make a dash out of there. The officers rushed forward, breaking out of the crowd for the side entrance to the outside. A girl screamed. Panic rushed over the crowd. Most ran out of court back into the mall.

My eyes widened as I felt a change in the air. It was electrical. I looked over to see the officers twitching under a layer of blue electricity. I flipped the table and yanked Lain down behind it just before the Anti-Skill collapsed to the ground.

Lain was rocking back and forth. "Misaka…Misaka…Misaka," she whispered to herself. I watch someone clad all in black step over the collapsed Anti-Skill officers. The clomping of their heavy boots echoed all around us.

I grabbed Lain's shoulder. "Misaka isn't here, we have to go now!" I hissed. Lain launched her right hand to my face, fiercely gripping my cheeks.

"Have to…have to stop," Lain whispered. Stop who? How? A high level Electromaster just downed a ton of Anti-Skill officers without breaking a sweat. I was useless, Lain was useless. What the hell could we possibly do?

Lain's thumb started to press in harder right under my eye. The world slowed down. I could hear my every heartbeat. I saw something in Lain's eyes. Her brown irises started to glow before they momentarily rolled back into her head.

She let go of me and thing seemed to return to normal. "Lain, Lain!" I quietly pleaded with her, giving her shoulder a gentle shake. Lain didn't respond. The clomping of the intruder's boots stopped. Screw it, hopefully I could stay alive long enough to draw them away from Lain.

I stepped out of our makeshift cover. The intruder and I were about ten meters apart from each other. They were slightly taller than me and had a bigger build. They were covered in a black and grey outfit, centered around a black catsuit with a grey trim and a belt around their waist. A black half skirt covered the back and sides of their legs, reaching midway down their calves. They also had on a thick cape on top off all of that along with a drawn up hood.

A flat, dark gray mask perfectly enclosed their face. It had a single black visor where their eyes should have been. Outside of some sort of off-orange scaring around where their lips probably were there were no other distinguishing features on it.

Hair all over my body started to stand up, like I had just been zapped by static. "Hey Darth stupid!" I shouted. Among the crap ideas I've had, this was quickly becoming the worst.

The figure crossed their arms in contempt. Their head cocked slightly to the right. "If it isn't the pathetic Ruiko Saten, I never thought I'd have the displeasure of meeting you," they said through a heavy electronic voice filter. Even so, they sounded like a girl. "Tell me where the girl is and I'll make your death more painless than you deserve."

Talk about hostile. Did I know her? How did she know me? Screw it, I'd figure that stuff out later. I picked up a plastic pepper shaker off of a nearby table. A paltry defense at best, but work with what you got.

"I know a lot of girls. You're going to need to be a little more specific," I jeered. Was this the time to be snarky? Definitely no, but it was that or wetting myself about six times by now.

The oddly dressed girl laughed. "The one you _must_ be accompanying. And don't lie, I know she's here. I can _feel_ her," she growled through the filter. She took another step towards me.

Lain? She wanted Lain? What the hell was going on? Oh, and I wasted my stupid Star Wars reference too early. Suck was written all over the rest of the day, if I survived to see the rest of said day. Come on witty comeback. Come on witty comeback. Don't lose your cool.

Adrenaline flooded my body. My body went numb. I thought it was the hormones mixing with what I assumed was the strange electricity permeating off the girl in black. No it was like the world was starting to bend around me. A strange pain ripped open in my brain.

The pepper shaker raced out of my hands aimed right at the girl's face. She dodged it with only a few centimeters to spare. Did…did I do that? I touched the table where I had gotten the shaker.

I felt like I was lifting off the ground as the table launched forward at the intruder. She performed a perfectly executed back flip over the oncoming projectile.

Her feet slammed on to the ground. "Well now, I guess you're not as pathetic as I thought," she said. "But I doubt you simply manifested a power over the past month, which means the girl must be closer than I thought."

The girl reached out her hand and lifted all the tables off the ground and moved them over. My heart skipped a beat or two. Lain was gone! Oh good, now all that was on my list was staying alive. But that's the easy part right?

"Where. Is. She, _Zero_?" She spat the last word as if it were nothing but dirt from the back of her boot. I heard that kind of arrogant condescension too many times in my life. No more of that crap. I was going to _beat_ respect out of this one. Now I had some real power to fight back against the likes of her!

"You'll have to catch me first!" I taunted. I turned and bolted.

Gotta run, gotta run, gotta run!

Crap, I should have worked harder in gym. My heart was about to explode! I stopped to breathe, the sound of my pursuer approaching echoed down the hall. The mall had been fortunately emptied. The only sign of occupation was some trash littered over the floor.

But where the hell was Anti-Skill? Shouldn't they be taking down this maniac? This scenario was literally generically defined in their job description. Ah screw it.

I looked up to see the large skylight built into the roof. An idea popped into my head. I wasn't sure the extent of my powers, but if it worked it was going to be fun.

I picked up as many bottles of soap from a nearby store that I could carry. I took the perfect position under the skylight.

The attacking girl came around the corner. She held a silver cylinder in her hands and she held it out horizontally in front of her. Her thumb twitched. The cylinder turned into a pole about the length of a traditional long sword, extending out to the right of the girl.

Bolts of electricity began to swarm around the area that would have been the blade on an actual sword. The electricity quickened and quickened. I saw the pole turn into…plasma? Yeah, that was a blue plasma sword.

Now I was really regretting the earlier Star Wars insult. _C'est la vie_, I guess.

The girl started to march forward, dragging the plasma blade along the ground. The tile melted into bubbling goo as the plasma burning into the floor.

I launched a bottle at her. I had to try something even if it was probably futile.

The girl lazily deflected the soap with a single swipe of her blade and kept heading for me. The headline "Girl stabs other girl to death using phallic imagery" flashed in my head. Freud would have been proud I suspected.

I'd never be able to execute my original plan. Not with reflexes like hers. Then it hit me. Her helmet must have limited her vision, so she used an electrical field like a shark to compensate. That accounted for the weird static at the food court and for how easily she dodged my attacks.

My only option was to overload that sense. I launched all the bottles I had at the girl.

The last bottle slipped my hand and I built up some speed then began a slide tackle. The girl didn't notice me slide right by her. I gave her boot a light poke and she went flying.

I followed her up using a similar technique. My opponent was already back on her feet.

Time to finish this. I was going to send this one flying across the city and hopefully she'd be a red smear on a wall at the end of her trip. It was with the realm of possibilities, because now reality was my plaything.

My legs flew off the ground. My body went numb. I looked down in time to see a steel girder had slammed into me. I crashed into what I believed was an air conditioning unit. Crap that hurt like hell.

My head slouched forward. My vision blurred. I swear I heard a helicopter come in somewhere off to the side. It left the area but I still heard it off to the side. The sweet call off unconsciousness beckoned, but my will to stay alive kept me awake. I kept my head slouched, praying that they'd think I really was unconsciousness.

Warm blood started to roll out of my nose.

"You know I was hoping against hope that you were going to be smart and not stir up the pot. But unsurprisingly, my dear Pandora, you did. Now I have to clean up your mess," a woman calmly stated. Her voice was soothing.

"Caiaphas," the girl, Pandora, growled.

I took a risky peek through the strands of hair that had fallen in front of my face. Pandora's plasma sword somehow returned to its solid state. A pair of black boots and the edge of a white lab coat entered my limited vision and was walking towards Pandora.

"Honestly, I was perfectly fine with you running around without a leash. Stealing lab property. Sure, it was useless without you anyway. No big deal. Messing with that bus during the hurricane? Risky, but hey you helped prove my hypothesis that Reality Shift is possible. So good on you," Caiaphas gleefully said. Did she mean the crazy girl trying to kill me for no apparent reason was behind the bus? Yeah I bought it. Caiaphas clicked her tongue against her front teeth in disdain.

"But then you had to go and let Alice out of the hospital. To be fair, that was partially irresponsibility on my part. I mean I nearly had Kiyama killed for that," Caiaphas mournfully admitted. She sighed. "And now you've given me no choice but to bring you in."

"I am only trying to take what is mine!" Pandora shouted.

Caiaphas stopped walking. A jovial yet condescending laugh crackled from the woman. "That is so cute. 'What is mine,'" she cheerfully mocked with a quick chuckle that sharply cut off. "_You_ are nothing but an experiment that is still of some use to me. I needn't remind you to what becomes of those who run out of use."

Pandora emitted an animalistic growl. "I can hear her, whispering in the back of my head. Simply give me the girl and I'll show you what Mikoto can really do," she calmly declared.

The woman began a much longer, louder laugh. I heard her take a deep breath in through her nose. "You're killing me today kid. Ahh, Mikoto Misaka is already bonded with Lain. Even if you caught her, she'd be of little use to you. And what you 'hear' is nothing but an echo. Just like you, in a poetic sense. So little echo, are you going to come quietly?"

"I'm bonded with Lain? No, no, no, _she's_ bonded with Lain. But I…I…I am," Pandora started to mumble.

Caiaphas sighed. "Not this crap again. Ugh. Unit RN-157: requesting Priority Access. Permission: Caiaphas."

Pandora fell silent, snapping to attention. "Execute subroutine: Thunderstruck," Caiaphas stated. The girl limply collapsed onto the ground. I too was finding the struggle to stay conscious difficult.

I only saw a bit of it from my pitiful vantage point. It was still enough to make my list of most screwed up things I'd ever seen: in front of the collected work of Criss Angel but before the Star Wars Holiday Special. Hmm, yeah definitely before the Holiday Special. Girl's gotta have priorities.

Someone busted down a door and another set of boots approached. "Oh, Kimball! You're still alive, good," Caiaphas cheerfully greeted.

"You couldn't do that in the first place? Or tell me to do that?" Kimball bitterly asked.

"I'm a busy woman and I can't be everywhere at once. Do you think this city simply runs itself? Don't answer that," Caiaphas said. "Anyway, do you get off at your usual time tonight? Good. Let's fly into to Huston and hit up some clubs. I feel like taking tequila shots out of a stripper's rack and hitting on younger men all night."

What was wrong with that woman?

"You're shameless boss," Kimball dryly replied.

"I'll take that as a yes then."

"Fine whatever. What do you want to do with this one? Take her back to the lab?"

My heart started pounding. Come on, fight it Ruiko. You are not going to wake up in some secret lab for these weirdoes to run tests on.

"Nah, my Power Release theory shows that a Level Zero can't retain the boost," Caiaphas said. Oh kick a girl while she's down.

"Find her a good place to wake up; she'll probably think it was all a dream anyway. Might as well be a dream. Didn't get any readings or a blood sample or anything," Caiaphas muttered in an increasingly distant tone. I hated to trust her word, but I finally entered the black.

I shot up in a cold sweat. A blanket was draped over me on a couch, in what looked like a Judgment Office. My head swiveled around a bit and I saw a familiar flowery headband in front of a large computer. My legs felt heavy as I forced them to the floor. I tried to get up only to wind up on the floor. My head felt dizzy.

Uiharu rushed to my side. "Easy Saten. Officer Kimball dropped you off a couple of hours ago. You were passed out from a huge nose bleed and your cloths were all torn up from that prototype security bot that went nuts at the mall," she calmly said. She helped me back onto the couch.

"Robot?" I croaked. Something about the word sounded hollow. I tried to think back to the mall. All I remembered was—

"Lain, where is Lain?" I demanded. Uiharu grabbed my shoulder and helped me back onto the couch. My head felt like it was spinning.

"She's fine, Saten. Well unharmed anyway. Anti-Skill dropped her off not long after you. All she's done is rock in the fetal position and whisper things to herself. I don't think Misaka will be able to get her out of this one when she gets here," she said.

I wanted to argue about meeting in the arcade, about me kicking Misaka's butt at air hockey and topping high scores all afternoon. Alas I had no fight left in me. As I waited, I forced myself to remember what happened.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

><p>AN: Happy belated new year y'all. How do I start off twenty-fifteen? By getting back to my roots and work on _Project: Apocrypha_? Posting the next exciting chapter of _Knighthood_? No, I indulged myself with this number. What are my other readers going to do, petition me with a swarm of PMs or angry reviews?

So I'm honestly amazed this story's gotten eighty views at the time of posting this chapter. I appreciate it. Thank you for keeping up with this little guy.

I know, I know: who randomly switches perspectives like that? Well, it happens. Deal with it.

We got a look at some new characters today. Feel free to wildly speculate about them in a review. When I was putting together the character of Caiaphas, I wasn't sure how I wanted her personality to play out. Then I binged watch _Parks and Recreation_ all last week (so that's where my productivity went). This leads to last Saturday when I had a random thought: what if Ann Perkins got the ambition and ruthlessness to take over the world? That is all.

Leave a review or PM me a comment or question to tell me what you think.

Until next time, I got so drunk a couple weeks ago and railed at this hack writer I found on this site {Turns out that it was me}


	7. Layer VII

The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura

All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Chapter of _The Serial __Experiment_...

Chapter VII: It's Only Mathematics

The day finally arrived. Kuroko and I were taking a maglev train to District One. We had a meeting with Doctor Kiyama and her patient, Alice Mizuki. I was going to get answers today. Nothing was going to stop me this time.

I looked out the window, watching the Gulf of Mexico rush by. I wished we didn't have to leave Saten and Lain behind. Uiharu had some work for Judgment to do so she couldn't come anyway.

The facility we were going to only allowed two non-familial guests per patient a day. I didn't want to take Lain on this trip because I wasn't sure if I could trust this Doctor Kiyama. Anti-Skill seemed to not care about her even after our run in. That wasn't exactly a reassuring notion.

Kuroko volunteered to come along. I suspected that she had set up some crazy seduction scheme set up for afterwards. She never learned.

Saten said she was fine hanging out with Lain for the afternoon, claiming she wanted some "LZ Bonding." But only if we agreed to meet up in the arcade afterwards, terms I was happy to accept. I was starting to think that Lain wasn't a Level Zero at all. Though I believed we all were starting to think that in some way.

Kuroko claimed she didn't do anything when I slipped during the storm. I believed her because if she did, she'd have attempted to use it to guilt me into at least sharing a bed for a night. Like that was going to happen.

But I knew someone had to have helped me. I felt someone grab my hand. I knew I did.

Then there was what happened when Lain touched Kuroko the first time they met. Now I wasn't sure if Kuroko was able to break through on her own or if Lain…did something. More importantly, if she did do something: what was it? Could she do it again?

The farther away I got from her, the more I felt uneasy. First I thought it was just my usual need to be around my friends. But when my mind wandered away a nagging, _primal_ urge simmered in the depths. It demanded that I go to Lain, that I be near her.

Not like Kuroko felt about me. More like a maternal yearning.

The train slowed to a stop. Kuroko and I made to the exit. District One was very different from most of the other districts. For one there were no schools in District One. Instead there were about two dozen laboratories. Some were operated outside governments, others were privately owned, three were run by Texan Universities, and four belonged to other academic institutions. Though they couldn't legally test on students, rather they picked up City graduates who either weren't ready to or didn't want to integrate with the rest of society.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I wasn't going to be someone's damn lab rat. No gilded cage for me.

I didn't think less of those who chose that option. A quick search on the Wired provided one a buffet of atrocities committed against Espers in the early years before Academy City. Children stoned to death, limbs hacked off, general ostracizing; but the world had moved on since then. I wasn't scared of it.

We stepped out into District One proper. This district was also home to the more serious medical institutions. Basically anything more than a broken arm was treated here. That included the one we were visiting. It specialized in treating Espers with telepathic abilities.

We quickly realized we were in a different part of the city. With few exceptions like Church Street, Academy City was pretty consistent in its construction. Modern, organic, and upbeat architecture underlined with technology in a white and blue color scheme.

District One was different. It was the site of the island's original research facilities. Many of them were simply repurposed by their new owners. Thus the whole district was pragmatic and industrial in design and color. I wouldn't call it oppressive or dour necessarily. Not pretty was a better way to describe it.

Outside an especially large and extremely not pretty lab, my head started to spin faster and faster. Kuroko braced me up.

Where was I? The mall?

Lain, crying! For me? Where! Where!

A figure in black approached! A fearless girl! Friends or foes?

Foes! Danger! Familiar!

My stomach felt like I took a massive punch. I was back in District One. A cold sweat had formed around my brow. My lungs demanded oxygen.

I took a deep breath. Was that…real?

"What's wrong Sissy?" My friend asked. The world came back into focus. I saw a pair of black boots and the wispy tail end of a lab coat. They paused for a moment before departing.

"I…I don't know," I grumbled.

"Are you going to be alright?" Kuroko asked. I nodded. No need to worry her yet. After a few more minutes we finally made it to the hospital we were looking.

The lady at the front desk checked us in. She pointed us in the direction to Kiyama's office. Apparently Alice's physician needed to be present during visitations. That was disconcerting to say the least.

We past a corridor marked "Testament Treatment Center." Several technicians were moving a very large machine with a seat and a strange helmet apparatus attached to it. Kuroko raised an eyebrow at the sight.

We walked up the stairs and down the sterile white halls to the office. I knocked on the open door. The lights were off. Kuroko flipped them on.

They illuminated a pigsty of a room. Papers and boxes were stacked nearly to the ceiling. Cans and bottles of beer were mixed with a variety of fast food trash, all collecting dust on every patch of space in the room the trash could find. Doctor Kiyama was slouched face first into her gum wrapper littered desk. She was using reports from Root as a pillow. Unbecoming drool leaked from her mouth. The fading remnants of blonde dye could be seen in the last few inches of her long brown wavy hair.

The only other item on her desk besides her dusty name plate and various mechanical pencils over run with chew marks was a picture. It was a group shot of about twenty men and women dressed in business casual under lab coats standing in a semicircle. A small server looking device was situated in front of the group. Amongst the small crowd was a younger Doctor Kiyama. A sly grin was strewn across her lips. The woman to her right had her face scratched out.

Behind the sleeping doctor was a wall lined with degrees and certifications. Chief among them were a Doctorate of Philosophy in Biochemistry, a Master of Science in Psychology, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, as well as several medical licenses and professional engineering certifications.

Kuroko and I shared a nervous glance. I nodded, reaching out with my hand. I gently prodded Kiyama's arm.

The woman flashed to life, her right hand slipping under her lab coat. The couple lanyards around her neck flung every which way. One was a battered ID card. The other was a weird pen looking thing that had a mouthpiece of sorts on it.

She shook her head, took a deep breath, and wiped her mouth. "Sorry, sorry," she mumbled.

Kiyama's eyes were ringed with stress lines and heavy bags. They sort of lit up when they landed on me. "Well it's not every day you get to meet one of the city's favorite daughters," she said with faux admiration, "The famous Railgun. What can I do for you?"

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow a bit. The doctor was listed as a Japanese national in her file. Yes all her post-graduate work was done in the United States, and she hadn't been back in years. But she had no trace of an accent. I had teachers back at school with similar education and time away from their home country and still had an accent.

The doctor slowly stood up, brushing a layer crumbs off of her stained white blouse and ruffled black skirt. She started to straighten out the barely on black tie that hung on her neck. "We're here to see Alice Mizuki," I said. Kiyama looked up from fumbling with her tie with confusion painted on her face.

"Alice? Alice?" She repeated over a couple of times.

"Your patient?" Kuroko interjected. Kiyama snapped her fingers. She picked up a clipboard from underneath a pile of gum wrappers.

"Right," she dryly responded. She pulled on a threadbare, white lab coat. "Well follow me." We went out into the hall and started walking down to the wards.

"You have quite the collection of degrees," Kuroko commented. Kiyama nodded.

"Yes, I was originally hired by the UN in the early days of the city to study how Esper powers manifest and operate. Free housing, decent pay, and exciting new fields to explore; everything a newly minted PhD grad could want," Kiyama sighed. "But eventually they got bigger and better brains on that project so they let me go."

"Why stay here then?" I asked. Her skills would fetch a nice job anywhere in the world.

"Because I got recruited by Root as a…consultant of sorts for Project Lain," she mumbled.

"Wait, Lain?" I stuttered.

"Yeah, Project Lain," she irritably reiterated. She nonchalantly punched in the security code to access the ward.

"Sorry doctor, but why did Root hire you?" Kuroko asked as we passed into the ward. I felt like I ran into a brick wall. My butt was literally sent to the ground. Kuroko helped me up. It felt like something was drilling into every nerve ending in my body. I glanced up to see Kiyama pretentiously rubbing her right thumb and forefinger together.

"I was wondering what would happen when you came in here," Kiyama mused.

It took me a minute to get back on my feet. Kiyama lazily pointed up to a spinning silver ball installed on the ceiling. "That was my project while getting my master degrees. It distorts electrical signals at just the right frequency to Esper's ability but not destroy other equipment. Brilliant right?" she sarcastically quipped at the end.

"So why not _warn_ me about it?" I angrily demanded.

Kiyama shook her head, pushing on ahead. "Because I was curious," she said. A certain word was coming to mind about my opinion of the doctor. I formed a light magnetic field around me. That eased the feeling of pain.

The doctor stopped in front of a door marked "Mizuki, A."

The door hissed open after the doctor entered the access code. Alice's room was filled with graffiti and paintings. "She was real!" and "We knew her!" were the most popular phrases hand painted on the wall. The paintings depicted a fuzzy rendition of Lain, really only getting the hair right. Alice was looking out the only window in the room.

"Hey kid, you've got visitors," Kiyama lazily greeted.

Alice looked up. Hair fell all over her face. Her brown eyes widened with recognition. She ran up, stopping just short of me. "It's you. It's you! It's you! It's you!" she said in an enthusiastic crescendo.

"Yes. I'm Mikoto," I said.

"Lain is still with you?" she asked. I carefully took a glance at Kiyama. A scornful scowl marred her face.

"Yes she is," I answered. Alice giggled with delight. Kiyama cleared her throat.

"Ms. Misaka, I'm going to have to ask that you not feed my patient's psychosis," she scolded.

"Lain is real! Mikoto saw her, Mikoto _knows_ her!" Alice eagerly countered. Kiyama sighed.

"Alice, we've been over this," the doctor growled. Alice's brow twitched.

"I saw her, I saw her! She was at the club, Lain was _there_! Just like…just like before," Alice insisted.

My hand went to my face. I gently clawed into my temple. Kuroko cleared her throat and stepped in front of Kiyama. "I'm sorry Doctor Kiyama. Misaka wasn't thinking," she said. "We're not used to this."

Kiyama grumbled something under her breath. "Fine, whatever. Just don't excite her anymore," she relented. I nodded and looked into Alice's eyes. Alice seemed to take the hint. By the distant appearance of said eyes, that understanding probably wasn't going to last very long.

"Alright Alice, what do you remember before what you showed me?"

Alice cocked her head back and forth. Come on give me something!

"New girl. Arrived one day. Quiet. Unassuming. Befriended," Alice started.

"Computers, loved. Then club. Woman. Nervous. Darkness," she continued. Her body started to tremble. She clutched her right temple, brushing aside her bang. "Then the _machine_. The red eye. Eating. Chewing. _Destroying_…destroying _me_."

She retracted her hand. I saw four strange dot shaped scars arranged in a diamond on her temple through the strands of hair. Tears flowed down her cheeks. Kiyama slammed her foot into the ground.

"That's enough. This visit is over," she growled. I turned towards the doctor, fist clench. Kuroko stepped between us.

"I think the doctor is right, Misaka. We should be off," my friend insisted.

The three of us exited the room. I motioned for Kuroko to go on ahead while I followed Kiyama back to her office.

"Something else you want besides agitating my patient, Railgun?" the doctor asked. She sat down at her desk.

"You said you used to study how Esper powers operate. I was wondering if there was an ability that could increase the power of another Esper?" I asked.

Kiyama cocked her head in surprise. "It's only mathematics in the end, so yes the fabled Level-Upper ability could possibly manifest," she mused. "Are you looking to break the Bertrand-Liu Theory? There _is_ a Nobel..."

Her cellphone chirped. She checked the phone then shoved it into her jacket's pocket; a frown fell across her face and walked back up to me.

Our eyes met. My heart skipped a beat. It was like staring into the heart of a void. The woman reached out, grabbing the side of my face. Her thumb pulled down my right eyelid. Her dead eyes stared at something I couldn't see. Her lips twitched. "But I doubt that you'd seek me out for something a simple search on the Wired could tell you. So what do you _really_ want from me, Mikoto Misaka?" she asked me, emphasizing the first syllable of each of my names.

It hurt. I wanted to zap her to ash, to turn her to dust. My body refused to react. "The…the truth. About you, about Alice, about…Lain, about…everything," I finally mustered. An evil smile came to her lips, nodding a bit.

"The truth?" Kiyama repeated. Her cold hand started to crawl up my cheek, her thumb landing squarely on the front of my forehead. "People think that the truth will somehow set them free. No, Railgun, in this city the truth will only end up imprisoning you." The woman gently pulled her thumb down to just above my brow.

"Much like your friend in the ward; so take my advice: keep to your happy little life. Go to class, graduate, then leave this place and never come back."

Kiyama let go. No, I had come too far. The doctor headed for the exit. "Please, Doctor Kiyama, who is Lain?" I shouted.

The doctor paused. Her head shook side to side for a moment. "Just keep her safe now, Railgun. That's all you can do," she said barely above a whisper. She continued on her way out.

My eyes blinked. I was on the train with Kuroko. She was keeping a surprising amount of restrain, sitting with her hands under her thighs about half a meter away from me. I was honestly a bit surprised. Kuroko rarely gave up a chance to ogle me.

I sat up. Kuroko turned to me. "Hey, you're up. The doctor said you went into some sort of shock state brought on by the rapid change in environment or something," she said. A headache ripped open. I think that Kiyama might not have lied. "And I hate to ruin an already crappy day, but we have to go by my office. There was an incident at the mall and Saten got hurt. Fortunately, it wasn't bad."

"What kind of incident?" I groaned out.

"A security robot prototype went haywire," she said.

I shook my head. My gut told me it was a lie. "No it wasn't a robot," I said. Kuroko shot me a suspicious glance.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I saw...Saten squaring off with someone at the mall," I responded.

"Who? Why? How?" Kuroko asked. Confusion dripped off of every word.

"Lain...showed me. I don't know, but trust me. Hand me your make up mirror," I said. Kuroko did so. I popped it open and pulled down my right eye lid. A glowing light blue film had formed under my eye! The plastic mirror fell from my hand

Kuroko caught the plastic sundry out of the air. She braced my shoulder. "You need to talk to me Sissy; you can't keep it inside forever," she insisted. I curled over my knees. What the hell was going on?

I took a deep breath and showed her what I saw. Kuroko scratched the side of her head. "I think you might want to get that looked at," she deadpanned. Her body tensed up.

"Yeah, I'll call Doctor Cutter when we get home," I said. Kuroko nodded in agreement.

She checked my other eye, which was perfectly fine.

We arrived at the office some thirty minutes later. Saten was in a deep yet frantic thought on the couch. Uiharu was in her chair passing a nervous stare between Saten and Lain, who was rocking back and forth by the window.

Saten was a mess. Her hair was frazzled and an unsafe amount of what appeared to be blood stained the front of her shirt.

Lain was in slightly better shape. There was no blood on her at least. Her eyes were glassed over. Her lips spoke silent words.

Uiharu turned to us. A relieved sigh escaped her mouth. "Oh thank god you're here," she said.

I nodded. "It seems we've had a weird day," I said.

"Yeah, those two have been like this pretty much since they've been brought back," Uiharu said. Kuroko bit her lip a moment then sat down next to Saten, offering her some solace. Uiharu went back to work. I walked over to Lain. She calmed at my approach.

I knelt down and gently cupped her face. My thumb instinctively went to her left eye. I pulled down her lower eyelid. A layer of glowing blue film had developed under her eye as well.

Her eyelid slipped from my grip. Our foreheads touched. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it, I didn't mean to," Lain whispered.

"What did you?" I quietly asked.

Lain turned to Saten. "I broke her," she wailed.

The room fell silent. Everyone else was now staring at Lain. Saten calmly stood up and walked over. She violently yanked Lain away from me. She held Lain by her collar, easily lifting her a few centimeters up in the air. I could hear the anger seething from Saten's every breath. Lain limply hung in her grasp as if in a dream, her head falling to the side.

I stood up. An aura of electricity formed around me. "Put her down," I growled.

"Sissy," Kuroko warned.

"What did you do to me? Why can't I remember?" Saten demanded. She shook Lain. The girl danced like a rag doll flying through the air in Saten's grip.

"I don't…know. I…I think…I broke the Barriers of your Mind," Lain lamented.

Saten started to tremble. Her grip gave out, sending Lain back to the floor. "Then I had…had an ability?" she whispered. She started examining her hands.

I gently grabbed Saten's arm. I quickly moved my hands up to her face and pulled down her eyelids. There was a thick blue film similar to the film I saw in my own eye was underneath both of Saten's eyes. Only the film under her eyes wasn't glowing. It looked rather dead actually.

The film creepily crawled out onto her cheeks and rolled down to the floor. Uiharu quickly grabbed a plastic bag. She picked up the gelatinous blobs with a pair of tweezers, placing them in the bag.

I released Saten. She rushed outside before we could say anything. Uiharu handed Kuroko the bag and followed Saten out.

Lain tugged at my arm. "I want to go home," she mumbled. Kuroko nodded, slipping the bag into her purse. We took a bus back to our apartment.

Kuroko took a shower and I crashed on the couch. Lain sat in front of her computer. Delphi, she called it.

The girl disappeared whenever she logged onto that machine. It was like she wasn't even in the room. Only the occasional rhythmic typing from her fingers reminded me that she was still physically in the room.

Windows would pop up and close down at a ridiculous speed. Various readouts and files of code filled the spaces in between.

The longer I stared at Lain and her work the more I felt like I was drifting off with her. Whispers started tickling my ears. The world disappeared into a vortex of white noise.

I tried to find my room to take my sleep meds but I couldn't even find my body. The world had become flurry of…something. Nothing tangible but still capable of causing pain. I wanted to curl into a ball.

Something like a hand fell on what must have been my shoulder. The world fell into order. It was like being at the heart of a giant shipping center. Packages came in and went out after going through a few layers of processing before going off to their final destination.

It was surprisingly beautiful to watch the parcels move from place to place.

My stomach felt like it was dropping. I gasped for air, back safely in the living room. Lain was standing over me, her eyes wide and her index finger hovering over her lips.

_To Be Continued..._

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><p>AN: Some chapters just right themselves. This one certainly did. Where do I even start? Well there is Dr. Kiyama. I haven't had that much fun introducing a character in a long time. The mad/eccentric scientist archetype has gotten a lot of retooling as of late. Rick Sanchez, Rintarō Okabe, and alike always make me smile. Anyway I really wanted to drive a comparison between Caiaphas and Kiyama's personalities with this chapter.

I'm going to be honest with you for just a moment: I map everything out most of the time but sometimes specific underlying things don't get formed until fingers hit the keyboard. This usually leads me to rereading the story to pick out some minor detail and re-purpose it. So I have to rewrite whole sections of the current chapter in order to maintain some continuity.

What did you think? Leave a review and tell me.

Check out my profile soon. Important updates will be coming soon.

Until next time, build more interdenominational portal guns {I see nothing going wrong with that}


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